There will be 22 candidates on the ballot in November vying to fill three open seats on the Detroit Public Schools Community District Board of Education.

Chalkbeat Detroit reported this week that two new people will join the board, after two current members did not seek reelection. But there are familiar faces running as well, Chalkbeat reports, including two former school board members, a handful of people who have sought to join the board in the past, and teachers who have been frequent critics of the district.

Mario Morrow, a political analyst and former educator, administrator and assistant superintendent in Detroit, joined The Metro on Wednesday to share why he says this election is so important and what it can tell us about the politics of public education.

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Morrow says there are several different reasons why one might want a position on the school board.

“They are very dedicated to education, they want to see the district move in the right direction. Or maybe they’re using this as a stepping stone for another political career. Or just maybe they just want to get paid,” Morrow said. “It is a paying position now, and you can get a stipend. I think it’s $250 a meeting, which is about $75,000 a year. It’s not a bad gig to have.”

No matter the reason for running, the candidates have several responsibilities to fulfill if elected as a school board member.

“The two main responsibilities is, No. 1, hiring and firing of the superintendent. And No. 2, creating and making sure that policy is followed within the district,” Morrow said.

Morrow says school board candidates don’t have to have any educational experience, but rather, just show a dedication to working with the administration and community. He spoke about Mother Moore, a longtime social justice activist and centenarian in Detroit, who — despite her age — has been very involved at school board meetings, and how she is a prime example of what a school board member should be.

“I wish school board members, these 20 plus candidates, would take a page or a chapter out of her book to make sure that they do the right thing if they’re elected,” Morrow said.

Strong leadership in the district is key as they aim to address its many ongoing challenges such as “chronic absenteeism,” of which Michigan has some of the most abysmal rates in the nation. 

In order for the district to improve, school board members need to have the “dedication, commitment and knowledge base” to make a positive change, Morrow said.

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Morrow.

More headlines from The Metro on July 31st:

• The last few weeks have been a wild time in politics. Dennis Darnoi, a Republican strategist and owner of Densar Consulting in Farmington Hills, joined The Metro to discuss how Michigan voters are handling this election cycle.
• The 9th annual “Aging Matters Education and Expo” is taking place this Thursday at the Fellowship Chapel in Detroit. Its goal is to empower aging adults to live their golden years a little brighter. Bernadette Hudgins, one of the event’s organizers, joined the show to talk about what resources they have to offer.
• After being an underground cultural touchstone for decades, break dancing is now out in the open as an official Olympic sport. Break dancing began in the late ’60s and early ’70s in the Bronx.  And as the dance spread nationwide, Detroit and other cities added their own regional flare. To discuss break dancing and the stamp Detroit placed on it, Detroit freelance journalist Kahn Santori Davison joined The Metro.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

“Chronic absenteeism” is one of the biggest problems hurting students in Detroit and across the country, accounting for any students who miss at least 10% of school days. 

Chalkbeat Detroit reports that Michigan had one of the worst rates of chronic absenteeism in the nation during the 2021-22 school year. While the rates improved the following school year, 30% of students still were chronically absent statewide. Those missed days not only make it hard for kids to succeed in the classroom, but also makes a teacher’s job a lot tougher.  

So how should schools go about solving the problem, and what might lawmakers need to do to intervene? To help us answer these questions, Lori Higgins, bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit, joined The Metro.

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Higgins has covered Michigan education for nearly 25 years, and she describes chronic absenteeism as a critical issue across the state that has worsened as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You still have in Detroit 66% of the kids who are chronically absent. And a third of the kids across the state who are chronically absent, and the state numbers are well above what they were before the pandemic,” Higgins said. “Obviously, the pandemic had an impact on chronic absenteeism. And schools are still trying to recover from it.”

Through her reporting and research, Higgins found that poverty is a large factor of chronic absenteeism in Detroit. Students in poverty face many issues like stable housing, reliable transportation and safe neighborhoods that may cause them to miss school.

“We talked to a student who said one day it was really cold in the morning. He was waiting at the bus stop around 6 a.m. and the bus just drove right past him. And so what did he do? He went right back home. He said, ‘I’m not going to wait here another 45 minutes for another bus,” Higgins said. “And that’s just how easy it is for a kid to become chronically absent, is that split second decision that I’m not going to school today, because the transportation was not reliable, it didn’t pick me up on time.”

Higgins also spoke about a Detroit mother who prefers to walk her daughter the 5 to 6 blocks to school, and keeps her home on the days she is unable to accompany her because of safety concerns. Throughout the first half of the school year, the daughter had a total of 50 absences, she said.

“Schools cannot solve this issue alone, they cannot fix all the societal problems that are leading to chronic absenteeism,” Higgins said. “And that makes it really critical for schools and communities to be working together to find solutions to chronic absenteeism.”

Unfortunately, Higgins said, lawmakers haven’t done much to address the issue.

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Higgins.

More headlines from The Metro on July 30, 2024: 

• To date, in the 2023-2024 cycle, the Republican National Committee’s legal team has engaged in a total of 78 election-related lawsuits in 23 states — raising doubts about the integrity of our electoral system before ballots are even cast. Abby Vesoulis, a national politics reporter for Mother Jones, recently wrote about the RNC’s “bogus” lawsuits, calling them the GOP’s “secret weapon of 2024.” Vesoulis joined The Metro to discuss her reporting on the issue.
• July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, and metro Detroit-based Hegira Health is hosting a virtual town hall on Wednesday featuring a panel discussion about how to address mental health care disparities. To talk more about the town hall and Minority Mental Health Month, Hegira Health Director of Development Dr. Andrea Rodgers joined the show.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.