Tag: Charis Lee
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Education Beat Analysis: Flint’s public schools tipping into arguable freefall
By Harold C. Ford As the newly-constituted Flint Board of Education is beginning to look a lot like the old board, with chaos repeatedly breaking out, a multitude of sobering realities about the school district are undeniable. Arguably, Flint’s public schools are in freefall. Its student population has fallen from around 40,000 a few decades…
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Education Beat: Chaotic Ed Board meetings in September draw ire from Flint Schools staff
By Harold C. Ford “The whole is less than the sum of its parts.” –from Edgar Morin’s La Methode La Nature de la Nature, 2017 Only 55 seconds into the Flint Board of Education’s (FBOE) first of three September meetings – a Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting on Sept. 14 – the first parliamentary…
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Education Beat : Tumult continues on Flint ed board as president, treasurer tossed
By Harold C. Ford “Here we go again.” – Joyce Ellis-McNeal after being removed as Flint Board of Education president, Aug. 17 The tumultuous nature of the Flint Board of Education (FBOE) was, once again, on full display at the panel’s 3.5-hour Aug. 17 meeting as Joyce Ellis-McNeal, president, and Laura MacIntyre, treasurer, were suddenly…
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Education Beat Analysis: A tale of two board meetings, Part Two — Civility erodes, familiar tensions resurface
June 8: Amidst uncommon civility, unanimous adoption of Strategic Plan June 9: Civility erodes, familiar tensions resurface By Harold C. Ford “It’s been going on for years and years – hostile work environment, hostile board environment.” –Joyce Ellis-McNeal, president, Flint Board of Education; June 9, 2022 [Editor’s note: East Village Magazine’s Education Beat reporter, Harold…
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Education Beat: Schools board postpones closures after 30 speakers plead to keep Pierce, ALA open; district released from State-imposed Emergency Finance Plan
By Harold C. Ford A six-hour meeting of the Flint Board of Education (FBOE) on May 11 began with purported good news that Flint Community Schools (FCS) had been released from the imposition of an enhanced deficit elimination plan (EDEP) by the Michigan Department of Treasury. But any euphoria elicited by the EDEP-dismissal announcement quickly…
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Education Beat: Flint School Board fiscal scrutiny of Williams legal services and Lambert public relations firm intensifies
By Harold C. Ford “It’s going to get ugly … I’m ready for the fight … This man here [former Flint school board attorney Kendall Williams] making a million dollars. Unbelievable.” –Joyce Ellis-McNeal, Oct. 13, 2021, Flint school board meeting Fees charged to Flint Community Schools (FCS) by The Williams Firm, for legal services, and…
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City Council Beat: Councilperson’s life threatened; hardship property tax exemption approved; “decorum” training scheduled
By Tom Travis The Flint city council Monday night heard details of threats against the life of Councilperson Maurice Davis (2nd Ward), and in addition approved a property tax exemption, filled out appointments to two key city panels, and agreed to a training aiming to improve council decorum and resolve parliamentary wrangling. Davis told the…
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Cynthia Neeley wins nomination over nine Dems in 34th District primary; turnout 6.7 percent
By Paul Rozycki The last two months have been very good for the Neeley family. In November Sheldon Neeley was elected mayor of Flint. And in a short campaign, conducted during the holiday season, Cynthia Neeley outpolled nine other candidates in the primary election Tuesday to win the Democratic nomination for the 34th state House…
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Eight of ten Democrats in 34th district primary race face off in forum
By Paul Rozycki Eight of the ten Democrats competing to fill Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley’s seat in the State House for the 34th district faced each other in a forum at Joy Tabernacle Church in Civic Park on Jan. 3, only four days before the Democratic primary. On the panel were 3rd Ward Councilman Santino…
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99 years of women’s right to vote celebrated at Crossroads Village
By Paul Rozycki It’s been almost a century since women won the right to vote in the United States. The 99th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women that long fought-for right, was commemorated Aug. 31, at Crossroads Village by nearly 100 women (and some men) dressed as they might have…
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