Voter Guide for School Board

ELi provides nonpartisan information about East Lansing elections. Read on for specific information about the East Lansing school board election on November 8, 2016.

The basics: Seven candidates are running for three open seats on the East Lansing Public Schools Board of Trustees. (Current board members Kath Edsall, Hillary Henderson, and Erin Graham are finishing their terms.) If you live in East Lansing, the seven candidates will be on your ballot and you'll be asked to choose up to three.

The election is nonpartisan. Candidates are not identified as being affiliated with political parties for this election. Three candidates have put out campaign literature together, as a group of three: Hillary Henderson, Kyle Guerrant, and Nichole Martin.

ELi has provided profiles: Click on the name below to read the profile produced via interview with ELi’s Karessa Wheeler:

• Mike Conlin
• Kath Edsall
• Hillary Henderson
• Erin Graham
• Kyle Guerrant
• Nichole Martin
• Robert Clark

 
The candidates have answered ELi’s reader questions:

• Question 1: "What would you suggest the Board do to work to improve the performance and long term outcomes of students in the two elementary schools (Donley and Pinecrest) where M-STEP tests scores continue to be below par?"Click here for candidate answers.
• Question 2: "Do you support parents, staff and students riding bicycles to all of our schools – elementary, middle, and high school? If not, why not, and if so, what accommodations would you want to have provided?" Click here for candidate answers.
• Question 3: "Name two things you think the Superintendant is handling well and two things you believe she could be doing better." Click here for candidate answers. 
• Question 4: "Do you want to see Red Cedar reopened as a District elementary school?" Click here for candidate answers.
• Question 5: "What three issues at the high school would you say constitute relative high priority for the School Board to manage?" Click here for candidate answers. 

Candidate forums: There have been three public forums at which the public has been able to meet the candidates. You can read our coverage of the first forum here, and the second forum here.

Two challenges raised: ELi has covered challenges raised to candidate Kyle Guerrant on plagiarism and Erin Graham on copyright and test security. In both cases, the candidates provided responses: click here for Guerrant’s; click here for Graham’s.

Campaign organization and finance information is available via the Ingham County Clerk’s webpage. (Use the “public login” option.)

Where do you vote? If you live in East Lansing and need to know whether you’re registered, where you vote, etc., click here to be directed to the City Clerk’s page.