Good evening!  I’m Clint Derringer from the City.  I am a program manager with most of my professional experience in the automotive manufacturing industry.  My wife Bethany is a phenomenal  special education teacher at Ferry Elementary in the Woods.  We have two kids at Maire Elementary, and one at Pierce Middle School. 

2022 was a tough year for our family.  Early in the summer my father was hospitalized during a battle with esophageal cancer.  Just a few weeks later his father, my grandfather, was hospitalized with a severe case of COVID-19.  Sadly, he passed in August.   My father was released from U-M hospital with a feeding tube, just barely in time to attend the funeral.  He was almost unrecognizable…but he was THERE, with the support of my stepmom & grandmother, to honor his dad in person.  

On October 28th, 11 days before the last school board election, it was my turn to honor my father with a eulogy.  To paraphrase that speech: my dad wanted to be just like his dad, even to the very end.

Two years later, I’m running for the board again.  My policy positions and beliefs remain consistent, and I look forward to discussing most of those topics tonight.  But 2022 left an unmistakable mark on how I answer the question: “WHY are you running?”  I feel a profound duty to lead by example, especially through the eyes of my three kids.

I am running to help return a clearer sense of servant leadership to a board that has been FAR too consumed with seizing & wielding power.  Together, we can help ensure our world-class public schools remain a strong foundation for the success of all our communities into the next generation.  Thank you to the League for hosting, and thank you all for taking the time to become informed voters in this important race. 

Answer #1 (30:24) 

Whenever we talk about teacher retention we instantly talk about pay.  My wife is a teacher in the Special Services department for this district.  She voluntarily took an $8,000 pay cut to come to this district.  Money is not the answer, but since we're talking about it let's be 100% transparent.

You heard some allusions to something in the contract that won't allow us to pay special services teachers any more.  Well, what is that?  They want to be able to hire a teacher who has maybe 5 years of experience, and pay them as if they have 10 years of experience.  Sounds great! 

What does that mean?  It means you're acknowledging, as a leader in this district, that the first 9 steps of your pay scale aren't enough to bring teachers into the district.  So what should happen?  Fix the pay scale.  You don't need a special exemption for special ed. teachers.  Fix the pay scale.  We are way behind the other districts in our area.  We don't pay them as well!  I know, my wife's a teacher.  I see her paychecks.  

I appreciate that we're talking about this, but money's not the answer.  Leadership is.

Answer #2 (38:04) 

A plan to enhance student wellness starts, focusing on mental wellness, we have to destigmatize and allow people to say that there is a problem.  That starts at a very young age, if we're teaching our kids correctly.

With any problem, it's much less expensive and less damaging to provide early intervention.  We need to be talking about this with kids as young as possible, and with the people who are engaged with those kids as early as possible.  And then it becomes collaboration between parents, teachers, and the support staff we've heard mentioned here [in previous answers].  

To do that, you need trust!  You can't have parents pointing at teachers, and teachers pointing at parents.  We have to come together and agree that it takes a village to raise every kid.  We all have to support every kid as if they are our own.  

Early intervention; trust between teachers, support staff, and parents; find the red flags early

Answer #3 (45:30) 

I think we're all kind of traumatized by the rapid increase in gun violence in schools nationally, and every answer has centered on that.  I don't disagree with much of what I've heard, especially advocating for the sinking fund language that now includes technology to allow us to keep security cameras and secure vestibules.  I think that is very important.

The safety concerns I see and hear when talking to students and parents are our kids are integrating with traffic at every school, and not always in the safest manner.  I think we need to strategically review the operations at every school, and the first section of that review should be student safety, as they get to school and come from school.  And asking kids to cross major highways and major roadways on a daily basis, as 2nd and 3rd graders (the age of my two youngest kids) is not the safest decision.  We need to think through that first.

Answer #4 (53:06) 

The priorities for the Sinking Fund, again (as Tim mentioned) it's a ten year collection of over $111 million.  So we need a short-term, a medium-term, and a long-term plan.  One, five, and ten [years] are typically what we do with this.  Right now the plan that we've seen kind of buckets it by school and by category, which is a nice start.  There are certainly a lot of estimates in there.  But I don't know that everyone was included in the creation of the plan.  The finance and facilities committee certainly does not include any teachers or staff.  

I think in the five-year and ten-year plan we need to understand how our buildings, and our assets in the community, overlap with our enrollment, number one.  Right now, our enrollment does not match our facilities map.  We need a strategic review of all the operations of our buildings, and everything we do between buildings, to make sure we are: Staffing the buildings equitably; Kids are enrolled in the right building; We can then maintain those buildings to look as beautiful as they are today.

Answer #5 (1:00:50) 

The best answer certainly acknowledges the pain felt by both the Poupard community in Harper Woods, and Trombly which BOTH closed that year.  We only talk about Trombly openly in these forums.  Trombly has not been sold, Poupard has.  It's going to be developed for housing, and I hope that there are some families that can afford to move into our district, and increase enrollment in our district into that neighborhood.  That would be great.

For Trombly, their pain continues to linger, and to be manipulated by people who are trying to seize power on the school board.  We need to make sure that enrollment in our district matches our facility footprint, and repurpose that property in the best case scenario for the district.  If it can be a school, that would be wonderful.  Show me the data, and I will be right there at the ribbon cutting ceremony, because I don't want kids walking across Jefferson anymore.  It was a mistake to close those two elementary schools, but we need to be forward looking and get from point A to point B now.

Answer #6 (1:08:24) 

When it comes to transparency, a big shout out to the Alliance for Grosse Pointe Public Schools  who video tapes those committee meetings at 4:00-4:30 PM when most of us are still working, and we can't attend in person.  So thank you very much for providing such transparency for that organization.

Let's talk about transparency right here as we're sitting here.  Mr. Collins today in the Grosse Pointe News: "...never said" he believed Grosse Pointe needed a charter school.  But if you go back to his interview with the Grosse Pointe News in 2022, he said:

 "I think it could be one of the greatest things that ever happens to the district.  I believe we have an opportunity.  I mean I would love to see Grosse Pointe partner with Hillsdale in creating a charter school.  We have two empty buildings [Trombly and Poupard] that aren't in use.  Those dollars would come to the district."  

Transparency.  Honesty.  That would be great.

Know Your Classroom organization, the secretary on that board was Mrs. Hopper.  That organization also wanted to use a charter at Trombly as a threat: Do what we say, or we're going to get a group together and open a charter. 

Answer #7 (1:15:54) 

The Race, Equity, and Inclusion Council is a critical part of the current Strategic Plan that expires at the end of this year.  How we have these conversations, and who has a seat at the table, is extremely important to fostering the most productive dialogue.  Curriculum has a lot of state standards.  There is not much flexibility for what we can actually teach in public schools.  But, who is there, and what experiences they bring to those conversations, that is where you can truly get a full picture and real learning inside the classroom.  

Let's talk about history curriculum as it relates to race, and equity, and inclusion, especially in our neighborhoods and in Harper Woods.  I think it's pretty important that the Race, Equity, and Inclusion Council is making some very critical decisions about curriculum in our district, or we might try to pretend like the Harper Woods community doesn't even exist.  

Answer #8 (1:23:48) 

So this conversation lit the entire nation on fire three or two years ago, and it was part of a political movement to get elected to school boards and bring these conversations to the board table.  I'm against banning books because I am for trusting librarians, and principals, and curriculum directors, and the experts that we pay to run the district to make their decisions.  I don't think a board should be full of micromanagers.  That is the number one problem with our current board: they are micromanagers.

Especially when it comes to access to education and books and reading material, parents do a fine job managing their kids with what they can read.  What is in the library for other kids to read is none of their business.  

Answer #9 (1:36:42) 

Three specific, measurable, and attainable goals:

• Short, medium, & long term facilities plan

• Review grant funding opportunities and make sure the guy who writes the grants for your district doesn't high-tail it to another district

• Explore opportunities to expand Pre-K offerings so that we can increase enrollment over the long term. 

How to engage the community:

Be honest!  Be transparent!  Be accountable!  Don't sit up here and say that you trust teachers when you were the secretary on the board for somebody who wanted cameras to record teachers and snitch on each other.  Don't go to that organization's website and scrub it from the server.  Don't dissolve it in June and then file for the school board race in July.  

Stand up to the community when they don't like your decision, don't shorten the community comment periods.  Stand there and listen to their feedback, it's important!  Don't change the meeting times so people can't show up.  When you make tough decisions, stand there and be accountable and people  will appreciate it, even if they disagree.

Thank you again to the League of Women Voters for hosting us, and to the audience here and at home for researching the race.   

If we stripped away the exterior, I am a coach in my heart.  In one sense, a coach is just a wannabe teacher who loves sports.  But, in a larger sense, a coach is the leader & decision maker who must create opportunities for the team to GROW and be GREAT.  For our schools to operate like a great team, we have to include EVERYONE, and challenge EVERYBODY to prioritize the collective good.  

This election is about which candidates have a vision for our PUBLIC school district that will help stabilize current operations & finances, AND will help build a system that supports & elevates ALL our kids in EVERY community, together.  

The board MUST:

Prioritize Students - by amplifying their voice, and listening intently

Support Teachers - by protecting their autonomy, and respecting their experience

Spend Responsibly - by directing public funds toward the classroom, not the courtroom

Ensure Transparency - by communicating openly, and humbly facing inevitable scrutiny

Thank you, and have a great night!

My wife Bethany and I moved to Grosse Pointe in 2016 specifically because of the outstanding public school system.  This fall two of our children will attend Maire Elementary, and one will be at Pierce Middle School.  Cael will be the graduating class of 2032, Bo in 2034, and Mary in 2035.  Those graduation dates are the main driver for my decision to run because I feel moved to contribute more to our community.  Maintaining the historically excellent achievement level of GPPSS while navigating numerous challenges requires leadership, time, and effort from those of us whose children benefit most.  Bethany started her career as a public school teacher in 2011, and she's now a member of the special education department at Ferry Elementary.  

I started my career in various roles at my high school in Warren, MI.  I helped design and operate an Academic Support Center, facilitated credit recovery online courses before and after school, advanced to Graduation Coach (dropout prevention), and became the school’s Positive Behavior Intervention & Support (PBIS) Coordinator.  I also coached Varsity Football, Varsity Wrestling, and JV Baseball for 11 years.

Unfortunately my position at the school was grant funded, and when those funds were reallocated I accepted an entry-level management position with Chrysler (eventually became Stellantis).  After 2 years working as a supervisor, I accepted a promotion to lead the plant Facilities Engineering department.  We handled facilities assessments & budget requests with central management, as well as RFPs, purchase orders, and project execution with various suppliers.  After 3 years in that role, I accepted another promotion to coordinate the non-product annual capital investment program for all North America manufacturing facilities.  My last role with Stellantis was as global manager for procurement operations.  

My background has clear alignment with school board work regarding strategic planning and maintaining Grosse Pointe Schools’ extraordinary achievement levels, as well as professional experience planning and implementing long-term investment in buildings, facilities, and infrastructure projects.  

Evaluate decisions on potential impact to students in the classroom

The students are the primary stakeholder for a public school system.  All decisions should first be vetted based on impact to student learning.  Also, we should listen intently when students offer their feedback.

Add a student representative from each high school to the Board of Education

We should hear about current events and program feedback directly from our student leaders.  In addition to amplifying student voice, the board will benefit having both GP North & GP South perspectives available when discussing district business.  The Board of Education should provide these leadership opportunities for students, while also leading by example with productive & respectful dialogue. 

Recognize teachers as curriculum experts & partners in educating all of our students

Our students' learning environment is the same as our teachers' working environment.  District leaders must recognize the professional autonomy of our teachers and administrators without micromanaging.

Retain our world-class educators and create a plan that attracts new teachers

We've witnessed an alarming uptick in GPPSS teachers leaving the district for other jobs.  GPPSS leadership must focus on maintaining a supportive & stable culture for our professional employees.  Financially, the salary schedule must be reworked to be more competitive with our surrounding school districts.

Solve problems together, starting with reversing our declining enrollment trend

Our district enrollment trend is tied directly to our budget.  The board should start with an in-depth review of our district enrollment in comparison to state, county, & metro area trends.  Once we better understand which issues are the most impactful on enrollment, we can work together to develop a comprehensive strategy to attract and retain more students & families.

Expand existing partnerships to further explore grant-funded programming

The State of Michigan offers many opportunities for grant funding that have not been explored by GPPSS.  Even if some of the programs currently exist within the district, the grant funding to alleviate pressure on the General Fund.  The first opportunity I would explore is the expansion of our Early Childhood and Pre-K program offerings.

Rebuild public trust in the Board of Education

The current board has spent nearly two full years changing committee structures and building barriers to public participation during board meetings.  It's clear that many decisions are made during private conversations and then justifications are reverse engineered prior to the board's vote.  Regardless of whether a person agrees with me or not, I will listen to the feedback from the public, both before and after decisions are made.

Increase the availability, accuracy, and clarity of budget documentation

Previously, budget documentation was presented with full context related to revenue, expenditures, and underlying assumptions when time came for a board approval vote.  This is not the case recently, where only the bare minimum, high-level budget documents are available for the public.  The board should receive clear, detailed budget reports monthly, and the conversations about spending should be at the board table for the pubic to see and hear.