{"id":2808,"date":"2020-02-23T01:35:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T22:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/?p=2808"},"modified":"2020-02-23T01:35:33","modified_gmt":"2020-02-22T22:35:33","slug":"evan-major-elected-board-of-education-president-amid-vast-changes-for-the-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/evan-major-elected-board-of-education-president-amid-vast-changes-for-the-district\/","title":{"rendered":"Evan Major elected Board of Education President Amid Vast Changes for the District"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Simon Albaugh – YAN – Hamtramck<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hamtramck Public Schools is in a state of change. Goals are being refined and redefined, tactics are being reevaluated and values redetermined. It\u2019s a process that involves students, alumni, staff and administrators who all are defining the goals they have for their Public School System.<\/p>\n

But make no mistake, Hamtramck Public Schools is in a good place. It offers Advanced Placement classes and has exciting alumni who passed through its classrooms. One current student was even offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships from the most elite universities in the United States.
\nIts budget is in a powerful place for this sort of change, although Hamtramck Public Schools doesn\u2019t have enough money to radically change its district. The new Board of Education President, Evan Major, says the District is working on getting that to an even better figure.
\n\u201cWe do have a very healthy fund balance as a result of shrewd budgeting and growing enrollment in the district,\u201d said Board President Major. \u201cHowever, there have been, and still are some decades old structural issues in the district for which an amount of money is needed far greater than any amount we have.\u201d
\nBut even this problem is being planned for. Major says this will involve partnerships, grants and the possibility of needing public support. But that\u2019s not the Board\u2019s focus right now.
\nThe broader Detroit region is also in a state of radical change. The American economy is moving to a highly educated service-oriented marketplace. Manufacturing jobs are ultimately shriveling up and leaving the rustbelt cities where those sort of jobs used to pay well. And the district is working to catch up with all these changes.
\nThey\u2019ve convened a group of students and staff, alumni and administrators to redefine the goals of the school district within this radically changing economy. The goal, Major says, is to completely outline what the school district will do for its kids. This is in order to best foster the students\u2019 growth as they aspire to jobs within a new and highly competitive marketplace.
\nThis comes along with frenetic competition with private and charter schools that operate within the Hamtramck School District. During President Donald Trump\u2019s State of the Union Speech earlier this month, the President called publicly-funded schools \u201cfailing government schools.\u201d This illustrates the stakes at hand for Hamtramck Public Schools.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s no coincidence that in low income communities, there is a wild west mentality where, often for profit, and nonprofit charter schools develop with no clear performance indicators,\u201d Major said. \u201cThey\u2019re not showing they\u2019re any better than the traditional public schools and yet they proliferate and take away the focus from what should be about the wellbeing of students.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s worth noting that students who attend for-profit charter schools in the Detroit Metro Area perform markedly worse than their publicly-educated peers, according to a report by the Stanford University based Center for Research on Education Outcomes.
\n\u201cI\u2019m gonna speak for what I think is the consensus of the board,\u201d Major said. \u201cAnd in the last six years that I\u2019ve been on the board, there has been ageneral consensus that the way the state of Michigan both conceives of public education and funds is extremely flawed.\u201d
\nAccording to a report released last year by Michigan State University, the state of Michigan\u2019s public education funding is ranked 48th, out of 50 states. State funding is an important way for low-income communities to close the gap in funding, since many school district budgets are more closely tied to property taxes, rather than state or national taxes.
\nEvan Major wasn\u2019t the only change in this year\u2019s Board of Education. The team includes this year\u2019s new Superintendent, Jaleelah Ahmed, who Major says became an essential part of the team for her work in radically improving the school district.
\n\u201cMrs. Ahmed is incredibly serious,\u201d Major said. \u201cAnd our Board is incredibly serious in supporting her.\u201d
\nThe Strategic Planning Committee, the group that was convened to redefine Hamtramck Public Schools\u2019 educational goals, was formed at the behest of Superintendent Ahmed. It involves as many voices as possible in representing the district\u2019s future goals for its students.
\nSchool Board President Evan Major was voted as the new President on Jan. 15 during a general meeting for the Board\u2019s operations.
\n\u201cIt is truly a district and a learning community, unlike any other,\u201d Major said. \u201cNew staff that come here from other school districts always are surprised to observe those stark differences in how serious kids and parents are about their education here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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