Heard, LaVonté - Lansing School District
Are you an incumbent?
I am a Lansing Native, graduate of J.W. Sexton High School and a former teacher in the Lansing School District. I also served as the first Arts Program Development Specialist of the District before starting my own school, Transcendence Performing Arts Centers, Inc. in Lansing. I am a graduate of Central State University (Bachelor of Music- Voice), Central Michigan University (Master of Arts- Educational Leadership K-12, Principal Certification), the University of Michigan (Master of Music- Choral Music Education), and am a Doctoral Student at Central Michigan University (Educational Leadership)
Brief Intro of Candidate
1) Create diverse advisory committees that include parents, caregivers, community members, and students. These committees would focus on critical areas such as curriculum development, budgeting, and district policy. Their role would be to provide input, share perspectives, and offer feedback to ensure decisions reflect the needs and priorities of the community outside of regular board meetings. 2) Build strong partnerships with local organizations, businesses, and community leaders. These partnerships can facilitate collaborative projects, enhance resources available to schools, and ensure that the district's initiatives align with community needs and values while regaining the public's trust in the school district.
Endorsements
Our campaign has been completely grassroots, we have only received donations from supporters to finance our campaign
Top financials Contributors
Website and social media links
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How would you engage and include parents, caregivers, community members and students in decision-making in your district around things like curriculum, budgeting and district policy?
School Discipline is only as effective as students' ability to manage their emotions, trauma, and circumstances to adhere to school community norms. Schools are kept safe when there is fidelity in their restorative practices. Students must be guided toward reconciliation when they show non-examples of school behaviors. Moreover, they should be allowed to correct their behavior in an environment that teaches them how to apply examples of good citizenship in the world around them. Schools must partner with parents and community stakeholders to provide more presence in schools and more support options during the school day. This will foster positive relationships and offer protection for our most vulnerable students.
What are your thoughts on school discipline and the way it is exercised in your school district? What are your thoughts on restorative practices?
The purpose of school is to challenge the mind while helping one understand the world around them. Too often, our students face real-life problems and setbacks that inhibit a holistic education. Childhood depression, their journey toward finding identity, micro-aggressions in schools, peer pressure, and academic struggles all affect students' mental health. A radical allocation of resources toward personnel and programming to address this in students is needed if we hope to change the trajectory of student well-being in our district. Robust support systems, counselors, support specialists, and restorative officers must be in place to address the real needs of students in the post-pandemic climate. Our district must also provide families with more access to mental health care. Partnering with other organizations to get help for families is paramount. Our students are affected by the environments in which they are reared.
What are your thoughts on how to improve student mental health
We cannot begin to talk about Black student achievement until we restore the public's trust in our systems, policies, and curriculum. Without a sense of belonging in our schools, talking about how to make black students successful is premature. We must be transparent with families about what happens in the school community. We must be transparent about the safety of the learning environment and the climate of classrooms. We must address students who need services from special education but don't receive them due to costs and faculty shortages. We must also address any covert examples of anti-blackness in our curriculum, discipline practices, and student interactions.
What are your thoughts on ways to improve Black student achievement in your district and in Michigan schools overall?
If the most vulnerable child in a school district has all the protections and support they need to succeed, every child's needs will be met. Every child can learn. Above all, we must prioritize students' safety in our district. Part of that assurance is giving faculty and staff a sense of ownership of the school process and empowering faculty and staff to do their duties while in the school community by offering competitive wages, family support, robust mental health care, and resources in the school community to help students who are the most vulnerable is "low hanging fruit" to address this issue. The world is changing, but what has not changed is that where there are robust resources to meet school needs, students and families thrive. We need to have more radical school drug and alcohol policies that offer protection for schools and help for students battling addiction in schools, as well as more mentorship programs, adult presence, and community partnerships.
What are your thoughts on how to ensure that all students and their families, regardless of race, gender identity, sexuality, disability, religion, income status, etc., feel safe and included in your district?
As a former classroom teacher, I can honestly say that teachers do not go into this profession to get rich or be famous. They become educators because of their strong belief in the future of this country: our children. They believe that, with the proper guidance (and an occasional proverbial "kick in the pants"), kids will change the world. This is true of every "true" educator. It is a fact that educators of color do not always enjoy the privileges of the majority. Like in many career paths in our country, educators of color must be more prepared, more qualified, more willing to assimilate to non-examples of cultural responsiveness, and more willing to remain professional when faced with micro-aggressions and abuse in school systems. There is plenty of research surrounding this. However, schools that value their teachers' pay and as professionals have higher teacher satisfaction rates. The evidence is clear that if faculty and staff of color are valued in the school community, treated with dignity by their administration and upper administration and colleagues, and paid a comfortable wage, they will stay. In spaces where they are not protected or targeted with petty grievances and backhanded tactics that undermine the school system's value, they will find other jobs and other fields. We cannot afford this. In Lansing, we need faculty and staff that look like the students we serve: We need everyone.
What are your thoughts on how to recruit and retain staff, particularly staff of color, in your district with regard to pay, benefits, and working conditions?
School Funding and Finance