School boardmembers are harming our public schools

The Hamtramck Board of Education continues to baffle us.
The board has once again decided to blow off meeting for the month of July, despite a state law requiring all boards of education to meet at least once a month.
This open defiance to the law is an insult to our residents, who thought they were electing people to serve the community. Instead, we have a board that has deaf ears when it comes to the needs and concerns of the community.
Elected officials can’t pick and choose what laws to follow.
Consider, too, the board gave itself a 700 percent pay raise.
The business needs of the district do not conveniently take a month off.
Consider, also, that this fall the board is going to ask voters to renew three separate millages. The board’s indifference to their job hardly inspires community support.
Instead, their actions – or we should say inactions – turn off voter support of millages. If the board has a take-it-or-leave-it approach to their job, why should voters show support for the district?
We can’t think of a better way to sabotage a once-proud educational institution.
On top of all this, we have two board members who are refusing to attend any meetings, and a district facing 18 lawsuits. One of those lawsuits, incredibly, was filed by Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed, who has been – and continues to be — paid not to work for several months now.
This is clearly a board of education in free-fall and in chaos.
It’s a shame that the ones who will pay dearly for this are our city’s children.
There is a silver lining: this fall, there will be an election to choose two candidates to sit on the board. The deadline to run for a seat on the board is next Tuesday, July 23.
We encourage folks in the community to step up – vote, or even consider running for one of the positions yourself, if you are passionate about the cause — and help take back control of this school board.
Posted July 19, 2024