This Week

Selected School Board Races

Eigh
Impact

Everyone is affected by
Monday's school board races.

ESTHER ALLWEISS TSCHIRHART
Special to the Jewish News

I

n a matter of days ; local pub-
lic schools will be adjourned
for the summer. But another
rite of June is still to come:
school board elections.
Election Day this year is Monday,
June 9, with polls open from 7 a.m.
to 8 p.m. Only those already regis-
tered will be allowed to vote.
Many local leaders insist Jews
should support the public schools,
and vote in board elections, even if
they send their own children to pri-
vate schools.
"A strong and effective school
system must be a priority for all
American citizens," said Rabbi
Joseph Klein of Temple Emanu-
El. "A free and democratic
nation depends on an educated
citizenry, and so we all have a
stake in the success of our pub-
lic schools — whether we have
children in public or private
Faber
schools, or no children at all."
Eric Adelman, director of
government affairs for the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan
Detroit, notes that the vast majority of
Jewish children are educated in public
schools. "Strong public education is a
cornerstone of American democratic
society, especially for minorities like
the Jewish community," Adelson said.
Added West Bloomfield Schools
Superintendent Dr. Gary Faber, "The
public schools have been the key vehi-
cle for the Jewish people to learn to
assimilate and become accepted and
prosper in this country."
He also views public schools "as a
conduit for the maintenance of our
democracy.
"The public schools provide an
environment for people of all cultures
and backgrounds to be brought
together; to learn about one another;

"

6/ 6
2003

24

to be sensitive to one another; and to
accept one another," Dr. Faber said.
"Maintaining and raising the quality
of the public schools is essential to
every voter, not just Jewish voters."
Adelman said another reason for pri-
vate school parents to support. the pub-
lic schools is that "local school districts
and intermediate districts provide
needed services to private schools, such
as psychological services and busing."
He also suggested that the
"Religious Right" is seeking to increase
its influence by running candidates for
school board office, "which has not
only First Amendment and pedagogi-
cal implications, but could prove dan-

Klein

Isaacs

gerous to other priorities of the com-
munity."
Giving his viewpoint as an Orthodox
Jewish parent and director of
Federation's Alliance for Jewish
Education, Rabbi Judah Isaacs recalled
that "growing up, there was a school on
my street that had the following quota-
tion engraved on the front of the build-
ing, The fate of the nation depends on
the education of its people.'
"This quote signifies the importance
of our involvement in school boards
and their elections, regardless of
whether our own children attend pub-
lic schools," Rabbi Isaacs said. "We all
have a collective responsibility to
ensure that our education system is
meeting the needs of our students, and
ultimately the needs of society in the
future."

❑

ANN ARBOR
Term of office:
through June 2006
Number to elect: 3
Candidates:
Susan Baskett,
(i) Kathleen Conway,
(i) Randy Friedman,
Jeffery D. Harrold,
Noah Hurwitz, Glenn
Klipp and Deb Me'ucotte
Term of office (partial):
through June 2004
Number to elect• 1
Candidates:
Helen Gates-Bryant and
(i) Bob Geier
Voter information:
(734) 994-2233

BERKLEY
Term of office:
through June 2007
Number to elect 2
Candidates:
(i) Barry Blauer
and Maureen Reid
Voter Information:
(248) 837-8031

BIRMINGHAM
Term of office:
through June 2007
Number to elect: 2
Candidates:
Robert Lawrence and
(i) Shelli Weisberg,
Voter information:
(248) 203-3016

FERNDALE
Term of office:
through June 2007
Number to elect 2
Candidates:
Beth D'Anna,
(i) Marie Haener-Patti,
Melissa Hohauser-Thatcher
and (i) Jim Moll
Term of office (partial):
through June 2004
Number to elect: I
Candidates:
(write-ins) Karen Ballard
and Barry Murphy
Voter information:
(248) 586-8686

Polls open
for Election
Day from
7 a.m.-8 p.m.
Monday,
June 9.

Incum bents

GROSSE POINTE
Term of office:
through June 2005
Number to elect: 2
Candidates:
(i) Joan Richardson,
Anne Coates, Lisa Wood
Vreecle and Ahmed Isinail
Voter information:
(313) 432-3056

BLOOMFIELL) HILLS
Term, of office:
through June 2007
Number to elect: 2
Candidates;
Emmanuel Najor,
Steve Weiss, Doug Zack
and (write-in) David Lubin
Voter information:
(248) 341-5422

NOVI
Term of office:
through June 2007
Number to elect: 2
Candidates:
Dave Brown arid
(i) Carol Elfring
Voter information:
(248) 449-1200

FARMINGTON
Term of office:
through June 2007
Number to elect: 1
Candidates:
Cheryl Swaim,
John Goshorn and
Karen Golsen
Voter information:
(248) 489-3341

OAK PARK
Term of office:
through June 2007
Number to elect: 2
Candidates:
(write-in) (i) Don C.
Thigpen and (write-in) (i)
Deborah Elliott-Horton
Voter information:
(248) 691-8409

ROCHESTER
Term of office:
through June 2007
Number to elect: 2
Candidates:
(i) Darlene Janulis
and Steven Kovacs
Voter information:
(248) 726-3004

ROYAL OAK
Term of office:•
through June 2007
Number to elect 2
Candidates:
(i) Richard Granke,
Jeffrey Knaggs, Deborah
Wright and Gary Briggs
Voter information:
(248) 435-8400

SOUTHFIELD
Term of office
through June 2007
Number to elect 1
Candidates:
(i) Roger E. Goolsby
Voter information:
(248) 746-8552

TROY
Term of office:
through June 2007
Number to elect: 1
Candidates:
(i) Anthony J. Spagnola
Voter information:
(248) 823-4008

WALLED LAKE
Term of office:
through June 2007
Number to elect: 2
Candidates:
Sandra Kuhn,
(i) Amy Petertnan and
(i) Marc Siegler
Voter information:
(248) 956-2083

WEST BLOOM FIELD
Term of office:
through June 2007
Number to elect: 2
Candidates:
(i) David Gad-Harf,
Sandy P. Colvin, Nelson
(Nick) M. Hersh and
Melanie Torbert
Voter information:
(248) 865-6432