Thread by @curiousliz

dropped off my ballot today at UMMA! for the undecided, here was my thought process on the #a2schoolboard candidates:

- hard no on ernesto querijero, one of the trustees who has been overseeing the budget for the last four years and missed the TWENTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLAR CRATER that resulted in so many teacher layoffs and so much disruption in our schools.

this would be sufficiently disqualifying, but let’s not forget the time he demanded that a AAPI heritage month bulletin board at ann arbor open, put up by students in a youth activism class, be taken down because *he was not on it.*

even after the students and teacher deigned to apologize to his fragile ego. here are some of their public comments from the may 25, 2022 meeting:

- also no on eric sturgis, who has no clear connection to schools and has run for several elected offices in ann arbor over the last 10-15 years, including challenging CM disch in district 1 in 2020. all this raises questions about both his investment in schools and his politics.

also, sturgis is endorsed by susan baskett, who has been an absolute nightmare of a trustee for the last 4.5 years and is largely responsible for the board’s profound dysfunction. hard pass. michiganedjustice.org/school-board-c…

- glynda wilks is close with susan baskett – they came to the AAEA endorsement meeting together, and baskett introduced wilks as her friend – and has endorsements from former trustees johnson and lazarus. immediately disqualifying.

you’ll recall that johnson and lazarus were nightmares during the fight to bring back before and after care and even turned down free money from local elected officials to hire staff.

(also, remember the time johnson said his job as the president of a publicly elected board of a public school district was… not to represent the public? breathtaking!)

so that rules out three candidates, and thankfully, the other three seem pretty decent!

- don wilkerson is an accountant, and he has kids currently in the district, and he’s an accountant, and he’s involved at STEAM, and he’s an accountant, and he’s BIPOC-identifying, and he’s an accountant. did i mention that he’s an accountant?

having an accountant on the school board seems like a real necessity for this board (see: MISSING A TWENTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT), so that’s a yes from me.

- haisley parents talk about megan kanous like she’s the leslie knope of the neighborhood – always helping out with everything, always welcoming everyone, everything everywhere all at once. also has kids currently in the district. YES TO THIS ENERGY ON SCHOOL BOARD.

- leslie wilkins has a similar reputation and also has kids currently in the district. very excited to have more school board members who have real skin in the game because these decisions affect their families and who are constantly in contact with other AAPS parents.

here’s hoping that these new board members will make the #a2schoolboard even slightly functional!