Making Sense of the School Board Elections

With 34 candidates running for five seats on the Detroit school board – 31 vying for four-year terms and three more hoping to fill one partial term – the situation is pretty bewildering. To make things even more confusing, the ballot has two sections for school board candidates – one for the full-term candidates and another for the partial-term seat. Only a few of the candidates have campaign websites or endorsements. What’s a voter to do?

Fortunately, Bridge Detroit and Chalkbeat have done much of the research to make our selections a little easier. For those willing to take a deep dive, here’s what we know about the candidates.

Five of the 34 candidates are running on a slate sponsored by BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) . They describe themselves as a militant anti-fascist group and are calling for Superintendent Nikolai Vitti’s resignation.

Dr. Jameel Smith and Terry Whitfield were endorsed by 482Forward Action, the political arm of the local education justice nonprofit, as the “Detroit Kids Deserve Better Slate.”

The Michigan branch of the American Federation of Teachers has also endorsed Jameel Smith and Terry Whitfield, as well as two others - Bessie L. Harris and Theodore Jones.

It should also be noted that two candidates – Henrietta Ivey and Darious Morris – have dropped out of the race. Both had been elected to the Board of Police Commissioners last November and were told by Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett Jr. that they could not serve on both bodies at the same time.