Colleen Worden
Colleen Worden is a resident of Grosse Pointe Woods and has a daughter that attends Grosse Pointe North. She is an assistant prosecutor, and is the Deputy Chief of the Special Victims Unit in Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office. Worden was elected as a School Board member in 2020 and is seeking reelection. In her free time she likes to watch her daughter at sporting events and running. Her top goals for the district are teacher retention, addressing budget concerns, and attracting more students.
What made you decide to run for school board?
Public Education has always been one of the most important things to me, and I think that’s what makes our community so great, that we have this, the excellent public education available in our community. I think that’s why people come here. I want to make sure that public education is at the forefront of this community and remains available to everyone who wants to go to our schools. Additionally, I think that there’s been some issues that have come up in the last couple years that I think need to be addressed, and one of them is getting our budget in order and making sure that we have a fun equity balance that reflects that we have a sound budget. I also think we need to address some of the transparency issues that have come up in the last couple years. I think there’s been a lack of transparency, as far as providing documentation and information about the budget and making sure that all board members and the public is aware of what’s going on in our district.
What makes you a qualified candidate?
First of all, as a parent in the district, I think, having been a volunteer with every PTO I’ve been a member of and for us. First and second of all, I think that I have a really good handle on the financial element of the district I worked at a firm 16 years representing municipalities, and one of the things that I worked on when I represented those municipalities is municipal finance in making sure that a public body is accountable to the people who live there, and making sure that the balance the budget solely balanced, but is responsible. Fiscal responsibility is really important, and I think I have a lot of experience with that. I also think that, having been on the board for the last four years, I have a pretty good insight into the inner workings of the school. I think I have a really good relationship with our teachers and with our administrators, and I think that that really helps building consensus with our stakeholders. I also think that having been a prosecutor and working in a public body for most of my life, that I know that you have to build consensus and you have to practice civility when you deal with other people. When I’m in the courtroom, even when I’m on the opposite side of another attorney, like in my my criminal cases, when I prosecute people for sexual and physical abuse, I still have to show respect and civility to the other attorney and to the court. I think that’s something that gives me an advantage because I think that it’s really important that the board members get along with each other and that they show respect to each other.
What perspective or skill set would you bring to the board that it currently doesn’t have?
I think I’m the voice of reason. I think I can see both sides of the issue. I also think that civility and respect is very important. And I think that you know, having been a courtroom attorney for 25 years, I know that you have to exercise civility and respect even if you disagree with your colleagues. I think that’s really important. Also think of transparency and making sure that the public sees what we’re doing. For the first two years I was on the board, there were a lot of very upset parents about COVID. One way or the other, whether people wanted their kids in school or did not want their kids in school. And it was always really important to me that the public knew how I stood on things. I didn’t try to shut down public comment like this current board has done when we had long meetings. The whole idea was to get to the not shut down public comment, or not try to shield the public from documentation or or cut back on public comment. I mean, after we had our nine hour budget meeting, the first thing that the majority board did was make it so that the meeting would have been two meetings back to back, which cuts down on the amount of people that can hear and see what the goings on the board. They also cut back on public comment. And I think that’s the best thing you do when there are people that disagree with you. You want to increase public comment and public participation in our board meetings and in our proceedings.
If elected, what are your top three goals for GPS (Grosse Pointe Schools)?
The first thing we need to do is address our budget. We need to get back to a point where we have fiscal responsibility. Deficit spending is never the answer. We have to look at our finances with a fine tooth comb and start spending more wisely. We have to stop spending money on lawyers, on investigations, paying three superintendents at once. We have to get back where we’re making cuts the furthest away from the classroom and making sure that our budget is focused on students and teachers. The next thing we have to do is address enrollment. We have a declining enrollment in part because of a population decline across the country, but part of it is that we’re not marketing ourselves and broadcasting the best parts of Grosse Pointe. Grosse Pointe has so much to offer. We are a top notch district. We have so much to offer, but unfortunately, our communication staff has been cut from three to one, and there’s just not the resources to make sure that people on the outside have left our district to go to private schools or to go online some of the online programs that they don’t see, how amazing our district is, and I think we have a real challenge ahead of us in addressing enrollment. The other thing about enrollment is I think we need to come up with creative ways to get students back. I noticed that when I looked at some of our enrollment numbers that we’ve lost a whole lot of kids to Harper Woods public schools, and we’ve figured out why that happened. We should contact Harper Woods parents and students who have left the district to go there and ask them why. I know that there was a lot of real contention when we shut Poppard (Elementary shut in 2019). We need to figure out how we get those kids back. We also have to figure out how we get all the cases that were left during COVID how to come back. I know there’s been talk that there’s been an uptick in population, but we don’t know why those kids are coming back. We need to look at data driven data and the decisions that were made why people left. The third thing I think we need to do is to address why teachers are leaving. Teachers and administrators are leaving our district at masse. The Grosse Pointe Public School System has amazing programs and curriculum for a top notch district. We shouldn’t be having so many people leaving, and we have to get to the bottom of that. We have to start paying our teachers a competitive wage, and get back to a point where teachers want to stay here.
What do you view as the biggest concern or challenge that GPS faces?
I think that with the budget considerations, we have to get back to a point where we have a healthy fund equity balance, and we have to address enrollment. And I think that that goes hand in hand with what I just said about enrollment. Making sure that we don’t drive our teachers out, that we want our administrators to stay. And we had something like 10 administrators leave in the last two years, and two of them were just and others did not have their contracts renewed up until the last minute. That sends a signal to our administrators that we don’t want them here. I’m thrilled that we got rid of the formula, but we also have to start paying our teachers a competitive salary, and get to a point where we have two year negotiations, two year contracts, maybe three year contracts, on a regular basis. I think the budget and the deficit spending, as well as the enrollment, are two things that are facing our district the most.
What do you think are the best qualities of GPS?
I think we have amazing teachers. Our families are outstanding, our curriculum is top notch. I think we have the best curriculum in the state. I think we have so much to offer. There’s so many course offerings. We have so many classes. We have classes that many other districts don’t offer. And I think our parents and our parents, our parental involvement is just amazing. Whenever I go to events, I am always so happy to see so many parents that come to every event. When my daughter was in elementary school and I was on the PTO, there was not always enough room to sign up on the Sign Up Genius, because so many parents wanted to get involved with the events, and that’s a real sign of a very engaged community.
Diana Gellci
Diana Gellci is a resident of Grosse Pointe City and has lived in the Grosse Pointe Area for 28 years. Gellci teaches Anthropology courses and is the head of the Social Studies Department at Wayne County Community College. Both of her children have graduated from Grosse Pointe Schools. Gellci’s top goals for the district are having a board that represents the community, having a board that is transparent with the community, and to put students first. She has published five books.
What made you decide to run for school board?
I truly believe in public education. I am a product of it, myself, my husband, everybody in my family. I always thought that it is nice when people do something in that direction (run for public office), but I’ve been always working hard, going to school, helping my parents, and then I finally thought, okay, it is time. I have to do it now or when. I believe I have something already that I can share with the rest of our community, I want to give back to our community.
What makes you a qualified candidate for the school board?
I have a PhD in anthropology. I’ve been teaching for 20 years. I also have an education in an area of specialization, because even though I am an anthropologist, the focus area is in education and technology. I do have the results like I say, I always attended public school. My kids went to public school. So I believe those are some of the qualities that I can offer back to my community.
What perspective or skill set would you bring to the board that it currently doesn’t have?
I don’t think that board is missing anything. There are seven people over there and everybody, I mean, has a unique set of skills. What I’m bringing is a unique perspective, because I’m educated into different cultures, two different educational systems, and I believe that I bring a successful story, but as an anthropologist, I also have a good eye for details. I have a good experience when it comes to curriculum. I used to work in a high school with kids in special education for 15 years, so I can bring that kind of experience. I teach critical thinking, I teach teamwork, and I believe that those are some of the skills that I can bring with myself.
If elected, what are your top three goals for GPS?
I start with the idea of having a board that represents the qualities of the Gross Pointe Community, which I always admired and have a lot of respect for. I know the Grosse Pointe Public School System, my kids went there. I am proud of what they achieved. I believe the Grosse Pointe Public School System can be like a beacon of public education. So I want that quality back at the highest possible I want to see a school board that is transparent on their discussions and their decisions. And of course, I want to see accountability in terms of if we make a decision, we need to put students first. We are human beings, homosapiens are a political animal. So everybody has his own or her own political ideas. However, if you decide to run for the school board, then you have to give up those kinds of ideas, and then you have to put the students first. So for me, that is very important. Give up on your political agenda, give up on your business agenda, and if you want to do the best for public schools, if you want to do the best for those kids, put the kids first. So every single decision should be made based on if this idea is in mind for kids first, and this is not for today, but this is for their own future. We are not going to teach somebody for today, if we are going to teach and we should, if we are going to do the right job, we should think what those kids are going to do 10 years after, 20 years after.
What do you view as the biggest concern or challenge that GPS faces?
I attend those meetings (GPPSS School Board meetings) and keep reading and doing some research. It seems that there are some issues that Grosse Pointe Public Schools are facing, and those are issues that probably the entire system of education in our country, or probably in the entire world, is facing. As of right now, I see that there is some kind of disagreement, I would say, from different sides that want to establish their own agendas. I do not see a unified board, school board, and for me, that’s an issue. The other issue is, we have less students, and I want to see a study like, where is this coming from? Because for the last three, four years, it seems that a lot of them, well, I’m talking about numbers. I mean, they are not attending public schools anymore. So this is another issue, and those are some, some of the things that I like to go deeper and and find out and see exactly how we can fix it. The one thing that I want to say is that I don’t believe that there is anything that we cannot solve together, we have really, like a community with very, very interesting people with a lot of skills, with a lot of experiences. And if we come together, I’ll bet yes, we can. We can get some good solutions.
What do you think are the best qualities of GPS?
I would say we have a very good tradition, good and long tradition in terms of education. Number two, we have dedicated teachers. We also have a very good curriculum. Now, to say a very good curriculum, it’s a relative thing, because what can be really good today, it is not necessarily the best tomorrow. So this is something that should change, but I see a good vision. So I appreciate the administration as well. For example, when it comes to technologies used in school, I see that there is a good plan over there. And I believe that technologies in education can be very, very helpful, tremendously helpful when it comes to teaching the kids. But I also see that in the curriculum, there is, let’s say there are trips, and I believe, as an anthropologist, a trip is equal to the benefits that you can get for attending the class for the entire semester. So there are sports and there is art and music. So those are very good qualities of our system of education, I will definitely say that there is a good reason. There is something that I see in the spirit.
Heath Roberts
Heath Roberts is a resident of Grosse Pointe Park and is the Chief Administrative Officer for Population Health Services at Henry Ford Health System. He has a junior at South, an eighth grader at Pierce Middle School and a fifth grader at Brownell Middle School. Roberts likes to spend time on the lake in the summer. His top goals for the district are having a strategic plan, attracting new students, and getting student feedback.
What made you decide to run for school board?
The size of our school district, the importance of our school district, and the responsibility of our community to govern such a great asset and resource really was a driving force around me wanting to really give back and participate and be an active participant in our community and at the Public School Board.
What makes you a qualified candidate?
Most of my professional career has been dedicated to pediatric well being and health. I’ve worked at many children’s hospitals throughout the Midwest in a variety of roles. My career being focused on the health and well being of children, I think makes me very qualified to be a person that can help govern our public school system, supporting our community and our kids and the students and teachers.
What perspective or skill set would you bring to the board that it currently doesn’t have?
I think ultimately the board it’s a team of seven. There’s four positions that are available right now, so you’re really only going to have the history and the expertise of three people that are staying for sure. So what I bring to the board is a background in well being and commitment to children, a professional background in that. I also have a master’s in business administration, and I’ve spent my career being focused on, not only the operations of major organizations that are only focused on children, but also, I have a very strong finance background.
If elected, what are your top three goals for GPS?
I’m going to just say, this isn’t the goal- but this is a foundation, we need a strategic plan that has simple and realistic goals that are measurable and achievable. To develop that strategic plan, we need community engagement. We need to hear and listen to and get feedback from our parents, from our community members, from our teachers, and specifically for students. And I think this is an important point. My background in health care, when we are designing how we take care of kids, from everything from the moment they walk in the door, we have a responsibility to keep them safe to the time they see a doctor to the time they go home. And so one of my commitments is as part of our strategic planning for our schools, we need to involve the kids. We need to have certain opportunities for kids to give feedback on safety, on curriculum, on navigation, and that’s just one piece of helping, helping us get engagement. So strategic plan, community engagement, which involves parents, teachers and students. And then the three goals that I think are very important in that plan are in no order. So this is you can put in any order you want, retention and attraction of teachers, maintain and elevate academic excellence, enrollment of new students and retention of current students, and so what I mean by that enrollment of new students is making our community and our public schools attractive and desired. That when people move into southeast Michigan, they choose Grosse Pointe to move into because of our schools, retention of current students, that means we need to continue to talk about the value of our public schools from all the way to our community, from Harper Woods to Grosse Pointe Park. If parents and families live in this community and they aren’t sending their kids to the public school, we need to identify those reasons why and create within our strategic plan goals that attract them or bring them, maybe back, or for the first time, to our public schools.
What is the biggest challenge that GPSs faces?
There’s a plethora of concerns. There’s all kinds of things that we could be better at, right? I would rather say we have opportunities like any other district. We have opportunities. But the thing we have to be most aware of is our financial stability, because that really allows us to do all of these things. It allows us to have competitive pay for teachers. It allows us to take care of our buildings, our traditions. So I would say our our main opportunity is financial stability and sustainability.
What do you think are the best qualities of GPS?
There’s a lot. I think first and foremost is the students that attend these schools, the teachers that teach them and our engaged community throughout Harper Woods.
Melissa Fradenburg
Melissa Fradenburg lives in Grosse Pointe Farms and has two children who attend Grosse South High School. She works as a financial advisor. Fradenburg enjoys time spent with her family, as well as sitting by the lake. Her top goals for the district are to have a balanced budget, keep all buildings open and bring a sense of collaboration to the board.
What made you decide to run for school board?
I thought about it the last election cycle, and then kind of chickened out, to be honest. I just thought my kids really weren’t supportive at the time. People are mean on social media, and you lose your privacy when you run for public office. So I sort of changed my mind and this election cycle I was going to do it. My kids are older now, and they actually think it’s great.
My main reason for getting involved is we had left the public school my kids went through. My oldest was in the third grade at Kirby Elementary, so it was before COVID. We left because there were issues there. She had an extremely large class size. She wasn’t learning. There were discipline issues and there was no structure. We weren’t happy with the school district. And so we went to St. Paul (St. Paul on the Lake Catholic School). Then there were some issues there. It wasn’t perfect, but mainly for the smaller class was why we switched. Then when it came time to look for high school options and think about what we were going to do, I have a boy and a girl, so there is nothing really close I really like. So I just thought, You know what? We pay a lot in taxes. My kids can walk to Grosse Pointe South. We’re going to go to school here in the public schools. I wanted to get involved so I put my name in for the Finance Committee when it was posted about. I got asked to be on the policy and contract committee first, and then I moved to the Finance Committee to take Terry Collins’ spot when he took the board position. So I served on both of those committees, and it was really eye-opening, kind of the decisions at the school and the finances really how school board finances work.
What makes you a qualified candidate?
As far as a qualified candidate, I know what I know. I’m certainly willing to learn, and I’ve jumped into school finance, but again, serving on the policy and contract committee, and then the Finance Committee has helped me to understand school funding and the kind of the entire process of what a school board does. That experience was super helpful. Also my background, I’m an Economics major. I do financial planning for individuals and families here in the Grosse Pointes. It is loosely related to the idea of just understanding how balance sheets work and numbers hopefully will translate well if I’m elected.
What perspective or skill set would you bring to the board that it currently does not possess?
One of the, I should say, i pillars of my campaign or things that I’m running on is focusing on getting the national politics out of our schools. This is a nonpartisan election or position. I think on both sides, there’s just been a lot of noise. One of the things that I think I’ll be bringing to the table that will be helpful is I don’t really like politics. I’m not involved in either side, and I have friends on both sides. I just feel like I’m really good, regardless of what their views are, at collaborating. I really hope to bring more cohesion to the board. There’s definitely a little bit of a division. The board majority, the board minority, and there seems to be a constant battle there. If you watch school board meetings, it is there. I just really feel like we can find common ground, even if we don’t agree on all the issues. I hope to do that because I think for the benefit of our community.
If elected, what are your top three goals for GPS?
I am not looking to change anything. I would say, I want to keep all of our buildings open. I think the millage passes for the sinking fund (on the ballot on Nov. 5). I want to continue to see a balanced budget. I don’t want to spend money we don’t have. I just like the adults really getting along. I want to bring a sense of collaboration, regardless of who wins this election and who has a majority. I would say just more collaboration and really getting focused on being on the same page and going in the same direction.
What do you view as the biggest concern or challenge that GPS faces?
So the biggest concern, I think, is a national problem, which is school funding and declining enrollment. Now, our enrollment is up slightly this year by 13 students but it had projected and ran a budget based on losing 100 students. But nationwide, people are having fewer babies, and specifically here in Grosse Pointe, people are staying in their homes, aging in place, so there’s not a ton of new families coming in. Obviously, this is limited by housing prices and mortgage rates now. So I would say the biggest concern is, how do we continue to run our district if we have fewer students?
What do you think are the best qualities of GPS?
The best qualities of Grosse Pointe schools, by far, are the teachers, the people my kids have had such great experiences with. We’ve been back for two years now, just about, and I don’t think they’ve had one bad teacher since we returned to Grosse Pointe Schools. So I don’t know if we just got lucky, but everything from the counselors has been fabulous to both Brownell and South so definitely the people.
Clint Derringer
Clint Derringer is a resident of Grosse Pointe City. He has children at Maire Elementary school, a 5th grader at Pierce Middle school, and his wife is a special education teacher at Kirby Elementary. He has over a decade of experience in the automotive manufacturing business as a program manager. He coaches little league baseball and attends Grosse Pointe Theatre’s productions regularly. This is his second time running for school board, after being defeated in 2022. Derringer’s top goals for the district are ensuring financial responsibility, having a transparent board with the community, and attracting the greatest teachers.
What made you decide to run for school board?
It is about trying to help lead and implement a successful long term vision for the district. My kids are young, my wife just started her work here in the district in the last three years. We moved here because of the opportunities that the schools provide for our kids. So it’s a real long term rest of our life type of investment. And I’m running for the school board to try to help contribute what I can, where I can, to public schools, which is what my wife and I care most about outside the family.
What makes you a qualified candidate?
The experience that I had in automotive was in facilities engineering and project management. We dealt with a lot of infrastructure and facilities projects. So a lot of the work that the Finance and Facilities Committee (GPPSS Finance and Facilities Committee) does is very similar to what I’ve done professionally. Right out of college, I worked in my old school district in Warren. I started as a substitute teacher, I became a full time intervention specialist and helped kids with tutoring and teaching credit recovery classes before and after school. And then I got promoted to be a coordinator of intervention services, or the dropout prevention coordinator. I also handled the PBIS program at the high school, that positive behavior intervention and support system. So I have experience in education and understand a lot of the structures and business methods that are involved with actually operating the school district on top of, how much I care about what’s actually happening in the classroom.
What perspective or skill set would you bring to the board that it currently doesn’t have?
I would echo what I just said professionally in terms of skill set, but on top of that when comparing to the current board, I think the most important thing is a sense of honesty and transparency that’s missing. Right now many of the discussions and decisions are being held, not necessarily in the public, at the meetings, in the open the way that they should be. There is this perspective or this air of back reveals, very small circles, a handful of individuals throughout the community that have the ear of the board members of the board president, and that’s how decisions are made, and then what actually gets reported and discussed in public is reverse engineered to justify those decisions that are happening in small groups. I think that that is antithetical to how a public institution like our public school district should work. We should be finding ways to take feedback from all the different stakeholders that are involved throughout many different communities, use that information to inform our decisions, and then be able to stand up in front of any criticism about those decisions as leaders.
If elected, what are your top three goals for GPS?
We need a long term plan that ensures fiscal responsibility and sustainability for the district. This is related to enrollment and finances and facilities, operations and understanding how to keep all of that in balance, not just year to year, but with decades of the future in mind. The second is, ensuring transparency and accountability to all of the stakeholders in the community, regardless of whether they agree with me or not. Lastly, is to make sure that we are finding and hiring and supporting the greatest educators and administrators that we can. I really think that not only is a budget made up of 80-85% personnel, salaries and benefits, but it’s really what makes a school district. It’s not as many buildings and roads and desks and technology. While you need all of those things, what makes a school district are the people, the people who run it, the people who work there, and the kids that are sitting in the seats. When you’re running an organization, I think you have to start with and prioritize the people. To do that, we need to make sure that we have the finances in order and are capable of hiring the greatest people, and we have an administration that is the correct size for the services that we’re trying to provide.
What do you view as the biggest concern or challenge that GPS faces?
My biggest concern for GPPSS is decreasing enrollment and the impact that has on our operations budget. We need to look very hard at how we can maximize efficiency outside the classrooms so we can free up funding to invest inside the classrooms.
What do you think are the best qualities of GPS?
The best qualities of the schools is the breadth of opportunities that are available for kids- academic opportunities, world languages, opportunities to travel, extracurricular activities, singing, dancing, musical instruments, robotics, theater, and sports. All of these opportunities, not only are available to our kids, but they all operate at a very high level, almost world class in many extents, and it’s not that way elsewhere. Having worked in another public school district in the metro Detroit area, I can tell you the difference between the opportunities my kids have in this district and the opportunities I had where I grew up is exponential. I mean, it’s mind blowing the amount of opportunity provided by our school district, and that is absolutely the greatest strength that we have.
Terrence Collins
Terrance Collins is a resident of Grosse Pointe Park, and has a daughter who recently graduated from Grosse Pointe South and two grandchildren at Ferry Elementary. He is a financial advisor. Collins was appointed in November of 2023 by the current board to fill the position of David Braumbaugh. This is Collin’s second time running for office, after being defeated in 2022. Collins enjoys playing hockey and recently participated in Grosse Pointe South’s fundraiser “Run the Pointe.” Collins’s top goals for the district are continuing academic greatness, school safety and teacher retention.
What made you decide to run for school board?
This time it’s a little different. This time I decided to run, but obviously I’m on the board. Now I decided to run for re-election or to keep my seat on the board, because I thought that it’s important that we sustain the gains that have been made over the last 20 months, since January of 2023. I think our finances are finally stabilizing, and our enrollment is actually up this year. Our enrollment hasn’t increased in over 12 years. So I thought it was important that we maintain that momentum on the board, and the way to do that is to stay on the board.
What makes you a qualified candidate?
Obviously, I understand basic finance. I think I understand a little bit more than basic finance, but I think that in order to be able to things necessary to run a school district, meaning, 70 percent to 80 percent of the dollars that are generated from the foundation allowance that we get from the state for each student, 70 to 80 percent of that money goes to pay salaries, both teachers, administrators, all the ancillary staff, paraprofessionals, librarians, the maintenance people, all those people be able to do that and maintain a great part of all those great things in our district, you first have to be able to maintain the finances of a district. So while I think there’s certainly other qualifications that other people have, I think my main focus, at least, is being able to balance the budget of a district and spend the dollars wisely, so that you (the district) can maintain all those great things that Grosse Pointe has, like the teachers like the extracurricular activities like the sports and theater and arts, we need to build those things.
What perspective or skill set would you bring to the board that it currently doesn’t have?
Currently I am the analyst, I have the ability to read data. I think everyone understands when the information is put in front of them in a nice colored PowerPoint. But, I think I have the ability to dig deeper into the actual numbers, the background data that is used to create those spreadsheets and understand how that data is best presented, to provide the best picture for, not just the people on the board, but the people who are in the audience to see the trends of what’s been happening in our district. Being able to dig a little deeper into that data and understand how it’s generated, where it comes from, and what it actually means, so that we can present it in a way that it’s easily understandable for everybody is important.
If elected, what are your top three goals for GPS?
Number one is to obviously maintain our great academics. I think that it’s important that we maintain AP and honors courses, and we show the consistency of our district to those outside of our district who are thinking of moving there. We have to present that we are a district with a sound financial footing, so that we can attract those outsiders from our test scores. We have to continue to maintain the excellence in our district, to maintain test scores, show the signal that they graduate from our high schools and go on to college or whether they’re going to the military or into a trade, we need to show the success of our students. Secondly, the safety and security of our school buildings. I think that it’s important for parents to understand that when their kids come to our school every day that we do, we do our very best to protect them and make sure that they can focus on education and not be worried about things going on outside of the school district. And I think third, it’s retention on all levels of staff. So that’s administrators, teachers, para-pros, special education teachers. It’s the understanding that we want them in our district and that we do have a competitive salary based and that we’re that we understand the importance of what they bring to the table. I think that, over the last several years, we’ve lost some administrators, but as recently as the last school board meeting (September 10, 2024), our Superintendent has demonstrated with the numbers over the last three years that actually were on an upward trend in terms of teacher retention or staff not just teacher retention, but there are issues. I even said this last night at the League of Women Voters, there are issues on a state and national level that are slightly outside of our control in terms of attracting special education teachers, our stand, our regular teachers, para pros, not just to our district, but to education at all, psychologists, sociologists, there’s, there’s a lot less people who want to go into the teaching profession. So we need to do what we can do as a board to support our state legislature and really our national officials in doing whatever we can to attract more people to the professions.
What do you think are the best qualities of GPS?
Certainly the educational opportunities that we offer for our students. On a district wide basis, the overall opportunities for honors and AP, the overall opportunities, the number of clubs that we have, the number of sports that are offered, the number of arts classes, whether it’s choir or band or orchestra or theater. I guess all of those things offer something for everyone who enters our district, and obviously it starts with the people who spend the most time with their kids, the teachers. So whether it’s a teacher, whether it’s a coach, whether it’s a choir director, a band director, all of those opportunities that we offer, and the qualified professionals that we put in those positions to work with our kids every day and those things, that’s what attracts that’s what attracts families to this district, and that’s what makes this district great. And I would love to see both of our high schools and all over middle schools, but certainly both of our high schools again, in the top 10 of our state. I think that having that recognition attracts, not only attracts the people who come back to Grosse Pointe but those who have grown up here and then decide to grow, bring their family here to grow up. All of those people from outside of the district, which I am one of, moved here. I grew up in St Clair Shores. When it came for me, when I got in, wanted to buy my first house as a married person, we looked in Grosse Pointe because I knew the great reputation, reputation of Grosse Pointe schools, and I think a lot of families who grow up around Grosse Pointe, you know, think the same way that we thought when we moved here 24 years ago.
What do you view as the biggest concern or challenge that GPS faces?
It’s every school district in Michigan, it’s not just Grosse Pointe. Our problems that we face in Michigan are the same as every school district faces in Michigan. It’s the amount of dollars that are available to us from our state in terms of funding education. This year, the governor cut over $100 million from mental health services to school districts that really hurt. We can’t hire as many people if the state government is not giving us the money to do that. So the finance level is the consistency at the state level, there’s actually a house bill that’s going through the Senate. The bill that was approved earlier this week (the week of September 15, 2024) that’s now going to the house, that makes the mispers. It’s the amount of money that we have to pay into the retirement fund for the teachers. Making that cut permanent, which will give up our district between 4 to 5 million a year and a go-forward basis. It was done this year on a one year basis. That’s critical. State funding is obviously critical. And on the national level, as I said, the shortage of not just educators, but para pros, special education. We are competing with every other industry out there. I mean, we’re losing teachers to other professions. We’re losing psychologists and sociologists to clinics and hospital chains. I think that on the national and state level, we need to find a way to attract more teachers, more parapros, more special ED teachers to education in general.
Tim Klepp
Tim Klepp is a resident of Grosse Pointe Park and is a partner at IBM Consulting Firm. He has a senior at South and two other kids that have graduated. Klepp enjoys walking his dogs and is a big fan of all of Detroit’s sports teams. Klepp’s top goals for the district are achieving financial stability, supporting teachers and having a transparent board.
What made you decide to run for school board?
I think that public education is one of the best ideas this country has had for free compulsory public education for our kids. I believe that, and I want to be a voice, hopefully, of unity on the board, someone who can listen and understand issues in-depth and understand different perspectives and my aim would be to bring a level of cohesion to the board. In general, what I don’t like about our political landscape now is the polarization that we see and how very far apart people are. I think people have the same sort of mindset that I have, which is, let’s just work together. Find the best answers for our students, the best answers for teachers and staff, the best way that we can possibly support the administration, people with that sort of mindset should be willing to step forward and take leadership roles.
What makes you a qualified candidate?
I have a long professional career, 34 years in public accounting and management consulting. I think those are particular professional experiences that will help me work with the administration to understand difficult financial situations or other kinds of complicated problems that we might encounter. That experience that I have professionally will be useful. In addition, I’ve had all my kids educated through the district, through Maire (Elementary School), Pierce (Middle School) and South (High School), so I’m very familiar with schools. I’ve been involved with each of my kids and their, athletic teams as they progress through. Lastly, I would point to go back to the mindset again and approach looking to try to create collaborative solutions to problems. That’s my mindset, my approach to working with other people and I think that’s something that the Board of Education could use right now.
What perspective or skill set would you bring to the board that it currently doesn’t have?
Right now, it feels to me like the board’s approach is to control rather than to serve. My perspective is that a leader’s real responsibility is to serve the constituents that that leader is charged with, to enable their success. That’s the real role of a leader, is making sure everyone around them has what they need to be successful. Right now, the board’s approach is to control and exercise power, as opposed to really looking for the best interests of all the different constituents across the community.
If elected, what are your top three goals for GPS?
First, we want to ensure that we have a financially stable district, one that we can all be confident with going forward, that we have things like a balanced budget, and we can start to work at building up the financial reserves that we have so that we can be confident that the district is viable for the long term. Financial responsibility and financial stability are a core part of our (The other candidates Klepp is running with, Laura Hull, Clint Derringer and Colleen Worden) priorities. The second one is supporting our teachers. We’ve had over 100 teachers leave in the course of the last two years, and they cite things like poor compensation, a lack of support, a lack of respect and a lack of stability among those who are driving them to seek employment elsewhere. I’d like to make it the core priority of trying to find ways to support the teachers and bring them to a level of stability and confidence that they’ve had in the district in the past. Lastly, would be improving the level of transparency in our current operations. Many examples over the last couple of years where the current board has operated in a way that I would describe as not nontransparent, off to and including the refusal to release the report associated with the departure of the administrators at Grosse Pointe North (High School) and I don’t think that’s how public officials behave. I don’t think that should be the mindset of the board. The mindset should be, let’s do everything openly- and if there are difficult decisions to be made that upset people, let’s make them, and let’s take whatever public comment or issues that will come as a result. It all ropes into our overall priority, putting students first.
What do you think are the best qualities of GPS?
I think we have extraordinary raw material in the form of our students and our parents. We have a community that is incredibly engaged and attentive to what’s happening in the schools on a micro level, at the level of every individual school and within every class, and then at the macro level two in terms of how the board operates and the decisions that are being made by the administration. We have a community that pays attention, and that’s great. That is probably the single best attribute of the district.
What is the biggest challenge that GPS faces?
The most significant concern is our enrollment and ensuring that we are able to stabilize and, if trend trends improve, to increase the enrollment we have in the district. I say that because so much of our financial backing from the state of Michigan is dependent on the level of enrollment, so it becomes a really critical driving factor for what the district can do. There are a lot of plans that we could put on paper, and there are a lot of ideas that people could have that would be great to improve our schools, but if you can’t execute them because you don’t have the financial funding, then you know it’s not worth very much so so and because financials are so tied to enrollment.
Kate Hopper
Kate Hopper is a resident of Grosse Pointe Farms and is a principal partner at a consulting company. Both of her children are alumni of Grosse Pointe South, and both her and her husband are graduates from Grosse Pointe Schools. Hopper’s top goals for the district are to maintain fiscal responsibility, to have strong community engagement and to maintain good academics.
What made you decide to run for school board?
It’s my deep connection to this community and the fact that my husband and I both went to school here, and our kids both went to school here. We all feel we got great educations, and I want to give back to the community and ensure that the next generation of students here has that same quality education.
What makes you a qualified candidate?
I would bring a unique skill set to the board. I have a nearly 30 year career in communications. I worked in corporate real estate marketing communications and PR, mainly as the marketing manager at the GM Renaissance Center for years. So I want to bring my experience in that role. Having a strong communications plan is very important to our Grosse Pointe Public School System.
What perspective or skill set would you bring to the board that it currently doesn’t have?
I’m kind of going back to that- experience from my career. I believe we need to have a really strong communications plan that has to be a nuanced plan that includes internal communications and external communications. I think I can really help get our story widely known and build enthusiasm for our school system with that skill set.
If elected, what are your top three goals for GPS?
My top three goals would be focusing on academic excellence for our students and maintaining a fiscally responsible plan and decision making and engaging with their community, so that we have a strong engagement and involvement focus.
What do you think are the best qualities of GPS?
In Grosse Pointe Schools, definitely our entire community, we have a really
engaged, tight knit community. We have involved families. We have just a unique
engaged community. I think we have a lot of interest in working together and supporting our teachers, supporting our counselors, supporting our administrators, and it’s just shown in how many families choose to move here for the education. How many people who have been educated here choose to come back and raise their families here. So I want to keep that really engaged community spirit strong
What is the biggest challenge GPS faces?
I believe a couple of years ago we had some significant challenges. Specifically, we had declining enrollment and declining projections of fund balance. I’m very encouraged, because in the last two years, our board has made a strong effort around those trends, and I believe they’re now looking to be trending upwards. I will be supporting that effort and keeping it moving in the right direction.
Laura Hull
Laura Hull is a resident of Grosse Pointe City and is a chemistry teacher at Lakeview High School. She has a daughter and niece at Pierce Middle School. She spends most of her free time supporting her daughter at sports games. Her top goals for the district are giving teachers a voice, maintaining fiscal responsibility and having a transparent board.
What made you decide to run for school board?
Being a teacher and a parent in the district, it’s important to me that we make sure that our students are heard. I believe definitely that teachers need to have a voice at the table where decisions are being made. I have some experience working in the district. I worked at North (Grosse Pointe North High School) for three years as a math and chemistry teacher. I believe that I understand the issues that our district is facing in our community and that I can contribute and help move things in the right direction.
What makes you a qualified candidate?
Having lived in the Grosse Pointe Public School District since 2001 and being a public school teacher for that time, I believe that I understand a lot of the things that our district faces in terms of issues. But also just understanding the educational system from a teacher’s perspective, and then also having kids in the district who’ve been here the entire time, I have a very invested interest in our community schools.
What perspective or skill set would you bring to the board that it currently doesn’t have?
Having been a teacher in the district, I think that that makes me uniquely qualified. I know that we do have a teacher on the board, but having lived here for such a long time and working in the public schools, and then also having experience in our district specifically makes me uniquely qualified to understand the needs of our teachers. When we talk about being able to support our teachers, and then also what our students need and being able to support them and make sure that their needs are being met.
If elected, what are your top three goals for GPS?
I want to make sure that we put our focus back on our students and prioritize our teachers, but also instill fiscal responsibility and transparency. I think that that has been something that has not been a priority, so making sure that how decisions are being made, what decisions are being made, and that the people who are making those decisions are representative of our community as a whole, are very diverse groups of people, and seeking out the people that have an interest in the initiatives that were that we’re promoting.
What do you think are the best qualities of GPS?
Our community is fantastic. Our parents are involved in school in such a big way. People are willing to help, and they’re invested in our school and in our school board. I think the fact that we all live here in close proximity, and we interact with each other, not just at school events, or that students don’t see each other just at school, but our local parks, we don’t have many opportunities for kids to be involved in sports teams and other extracurricular things like theater and opportunities for music. I think we interact on multiple different levels, so that strengthens us as a community and also our schools.
What do you view as the biggest concern or challenge that Grosse Pointe Schools faces?
I think the biggest challenge right now is that we have enrollment issues and financial issues that are not just unique to our community. They’re something that people across the state, districts across the state and across the country are facing. So we have to make sure that when we make decisions about our money, we put priorities on things that are most effective for students in the classroom.