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The Rev. Steven Bland Jr., the senior pastor of Liberty Temple Baptist Church and a community activist, will join the Detroit school district’s board as its new member.
Bland’s appointment was approved by the Detroit Public Schools Community District board in a vote during a special meeting Monday night at Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School.
“I’m humbled to have the privilege to serve, and I’m excited about this season for Detroit Public Schools Community District,” Bland told Chalkbeat after the meeting.
Bland was selected out of 14 candidates who applied for the position, which opened this month following Angelique Peterson-Mayberry’s resignation on July 2. He will finish out her term through the end of 2026.
Bland leads several community-based ministries and youth outreaches, including Project R.I.S.E., which stands for Rigorous Instruction to Supplement Education.
During his interview with the board, the pastor said he’s worked to improve chronic absenteeism through church outreach. He said he will continue to focus on the issue in his new position.
“If we want to educate our students, they need to be present,” he said. “And they need to be not only there physically, but help to make sure that they have proper nutrition, make sure that they have emotional stability, make sure that they have support.”
The candidates included district parents, educators, an administrator currently employed by the school system, a philanthropist, and an attorney.
They were scored on their interviews and application materials by each board member. Board Chair Bishop Corletta J. Vaughn said during the meeting the candidates’ scores were stored in sealed envelopes that were not opened until the Monday night meeting.
Scores for all of the candidates were tallied by independent third party legal counsel live on stage for more than an hour during the meeting.
Once the third party identified Bland as the candidate with the highest score, his name was announced and the board voted on his appointment.
The board voted unanimously in favor of Bland’s appointment. Board member Ida Carol Simmons-Short was not in attendance.
Bland was sworn into office after the vote
Candidate interviews took place in four public meetings last week.
Each candidate submitted a letter of intent, a resume, and responses to survey questions earlier this month. Only the survey responses have been made available to the public.
Chalkbeat asked the district for all of the materials and was told an open records request was necessary to review them. A request was filed last week, and the district responded that it needed an extension until Aug. 11 to provide the documents.
During the selection process, three candidates withdrew their applications before they were interviewed. One person dropped out as questions arose about the use of ChatGPT in application materials attributed to her.
Bland will take Peterson-Mayberry’s seat on the board’s Academic Committee. Board member Monique Bryant will take the position of chair of the committee.
Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.
