The superintendent of Detroit’s public school district may face growing criticism when newly elected school board members take their seats in January.
Incumbent board member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo came out on top among the candidates in a bid for a second term, according to unofficial results from the election.
With all precincts reporting, the former state lawmaker and district teacher had 57,399 votes, or about 13% of the vote totals, followed by Monique Bryant, a parent and nonprofit director, who earned about 9.5% of the vote. The third highest vote-getter was Ida Simmons Short, a community college educator and a former Detroit Public Schools board member, who earned 9.1% of the vote.
Incumbent board members Sonya Mays and Misha Stallworth opted not to join Gay-Dagnogo in running for reelection.
All three candidates have criticized Superintendent Nikolai Vitti’s administration. In a Chalkbeat voter guide released in September, Simmons Short gave Vitti an average review, rating his performance a 3 out of 5. She said the superintendent needs to improve on chronic absenteeism, literacy, and special education. Simmons Short said DPSCD’s special education department is out of compliance, meaning they do not fulfill the obligations set within an individualized education program, or IEP.
“When you’re out of compliance in special education, it means our students are not getting the services that they need. He needs to improve in all of these areas,” she said Wednesday.
Gay-Dagnogo, who also rated Vitti a 3 out of 5, wants him to prioritize special education as well. She said there needs to be a focus on supplying IEPs to students in a timely manner and ensuring their needs and accommodations are met.
“We’re increasing that illiteracy rate and further increasing the pipeline to prison,” she said. “And on the backdrop, I equally cringe now with the new presidential leadership that wants to do away with the Department of Education and what the impact would be in that regard, as the federal government’s already woefully underfunded special education.”
Bryant gave Vitti an even lower score, rating his performance a 2. In the voter guide, Bryant explained she gave him the score due to the lack of improvement in test scores or enrollment. Test scores are actually on the rise, but are still well below state standards. Enrollment, however, remains below pre-pandemic levels, though the district has reported promising numbers this year.
While Vitti has overseen improvements in attendance and academic achievement, the challenges remain immense.
For example, student performance on state exams is well below state averages. Meanwhile, nearly 66% of district students were chronically absent during the last school year, meaning they missed 18 or more days.
Vitti has had strong support from the board since he was hired in 2017. Earlier this year, the board extended his contract until 2028, which would make him one of the longest serving superintendents in the district.
He told Chalkbeat in July that the ability to “sustain and accelerate the improvement the District has experienced over the past seven years rests heavily” with the school board and future school board elections.
An emphasis on working together as a team
Gay-Dagnogo had strong support throughout her campaign, including sizable donations and endorsements. She raised more than $65,000, her state-level political action committee reported, which was the second-highest amount out of all the candidates. The board member said her county-level PAC raised $1,000 and she expected to raise a total of $75,000 by the end of the campaign. Gay-Dagnogo also invested in her own campaign, giving $6,000. She was endorsed by the Detroit Free Press, the Chronicle, and the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO.
Bryant’s campaign reported more than $4,000 in contributions. Of that amount, nearly half was donated by Bryant herself. The newest school board member was not available for comment Wednesday.
Gay-Dagnogo told Chalkbeat that being on the board again is a continuum of the work she has been doing for the past 30 years, which includes roles like serving on the Michigan House of Representatives and working as a science teacher in Detroit schools.
Gay-Dagnogo said she looks forward to working with Bryant and Simmons Short. She has attended a couple of education forums with Bryant, even helping her with door-to-door campaigning during the previous election. Gay-Dagnogo has also met with Simmons Short and appreciates her historical context on the district.
“I have a pretty decent relationship with both Ida and Monique,” she said. “It feels like we’re getting ready to get out here and keep doing the work.”
Gay-Dagnogo said one of the things she wants to address in her second term is the district’s climate and culture, as well as ensuring DPSCD’s facility master plan and literacy lawsuit plans continue.
“As a board member, I want to make sure we see that through and see even more outcomes with reading efficacy and more transparency and accountability with our finances and greater investments in Detroit-based businesses,” Gay-Dagnogo said.
Simmons Short, an English teacher at Wayne County Community College District, returns to the board after running in 2022 and 2016. She decided to try for a school board seat a third time after seeing the district’s struggle addressing chronic absenteeism, as well as its low literacy rates.
“We have to be able to read and understand what we read and use our critical thinking skills, and we’re not able to do that,” Simmons Short said.
Here’s what two of the winners plan to focus on
Gay-Dagnogo, who was a teacher during the district’s years under emergency management, has said that financial transparency has been a cornerstone of her tenure on the board. She said she’d advocate to keep more Detroit tax dollars in the city via a vendor program that prioritizes Black-owned companies.
Gay-Dagnogo said there are technology and book vendors that can work with the district. She also wants to see larger businesses partner with some local vendors that have been underutilized. As an example, the board member recalled when food supplier Sun Valley Foods had a program where the company hired Detroit graduates and helped them attend college.
“That’s the kind of mutual benefit that you see when you have a company that is based in the city of Detroit that can perhaps offer some job opportunities and jobs for even their (students’) parents,” she said. “Why would we not want to invest in companies that do that? It’s a mutual symbiosis. It’s a benefit that helps to create more investment in the community, investment in our family, investment in our students, and they’re getting them back all at the same time.”
Some of the youth organizations Gay-Dagnogo would like to partner with include The Horatio Williams Foundation and The 180 Program, with both programs dedicated to helping young people succeed academically and beyond.
As DPSCD gets ready to launch its literacy tutoring program next week, Gay-Dagnogo said the district could be doing more to improve literacy rates, such as getting churches involved. When she was a state representative, Gay-Dagnogo was able to appropriate $1.5 million for the Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency, RESA, to create literacy programs in local churches.
“Here’s another opportunity that the resources don’t have to always come directly to the district,” she said.
Simmons Short said some of her top priorities when she returns to the board include making sure special education students receive adequate care and attention, as well as literacy and chronic absenteeism. She said getting students to school should be a family effort.
“The children are chronically absent, so we have to deal with the whole family. We can’t deal with the student alone,” Simmons Short said. “We have to take a more holistic approach to the issue.”
Meanwhile, Bryant previously told Chalkbeat she would prioritize financial accountability and transparency, more board engagement with schools and families, and said that improvements to the curriculum could help to drive up the district’s enrollment. She first ran for a seat on the school board in 2022.
Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.
