Both four open school board seats and the Sinking Fund Millage Proposal were on the ballot for GPPSS. Here are the results for both.
Sinking Fund Millage Proposal
The Sinking Fund Millage Proposal passed with 65.5 percent of the vote. This millage will help the district with security enhancements, transportation, facility improvements and more.
School Board
Colleen Worden
(Colleen Worden)Colleen Worden has won a seat on the board of education with 13.59 percent of the vote. 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.
“I think I’m the voice of reason,” Worden said in an interview with The Tower during her campaign. “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.”
Timothy Klepp
(Timothy Klepp)Timothy Klepp won a seat on the board of education with 13.54 percent of the vote. 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 from the school. 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.
“I think we have extraordinary raw material in the form of our students and our parents,” Klepp said in an interview with the Tower during his campaign. “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.”
Laura Hull
(Laura Hull)Laura Hull has won a seat on the board of education with 13.21 percent of the vote. 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.
“Being a teacher and a parent in the district, it’s important to me that we make sure that our students are heard,” Hull. “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.”
Clint Derringer
(Clint Derringer)Clint Derringer has won a seat for the GPPSS with 13.1 percent of the vote. 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.
“My biggest concern for GPPSS is decreasing enrollment and the impact that has on our operations budget,” Derringer said in an interview with The Tower during his campaign. “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.”
Julia Roeder ’25 is an avid concertgoer, music lover and reader. Throughout her life, she has been influenced by her father’s love for music and attended upwards of 20 concerts, with many more to come. Roeder also plays the guitar and enjoys reading. But outside of those interests, she is a talented journalist. Roeder is a third-year staffer and has been involved with South journalism since her freshman year; through her dedication and perseverance, she has climbed the ranks in Tower. She is now starting her senior year as Co Print Editor-In-Chief. Even outside of school, she continues her devotion to journalism. She recently attended the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference and had multiple bylines published in the Detroit Free Press last summer during her apprenticeship.
"I think journalism is important because it holds people accountable," Roeder said. "It makes sure people know that (others) are watching what they're doing, and it is important the decisions they're making."
Because of this belief, it is no surprise that she reports on the school board's every move to keep students informed. She cares about the student body and Tower.
"Something [the other print Editor-In-Chief Charlotte Glasser] and I are really working on this year is trying to get the Tower as one, trying to bring us all together, work our hardest and that's the goal," Roeder said.
