McIntyre, Lisa - Northville Public Schools
Are you an incumbent?
Yes
Brief Intro of Candidate
I am a mom of three children growing up in Northville Public Schools, my youngest in middle school. My career as a clinical mental health counselor has spanned 30 years and focused primarily on youth and families. While raising my children, I have volunteered in a variety of roles in the communities in which I have lived. I ran for and was elected to Northville School Board in 2020 to address the growing mental health crisis amongst youth, to build more inclusive school environments for youth and staff, and to focus on safety and security in our schools.
Endorsements
I am a Gun Sense Candidate for 2024. My campaign has also been endorsed by several known teachers in my district and by Matt Koleszar, State Rep. I am seeking endorsements from the Northville Education Association, the Northville Democratic Club, and Vote Mama PAC. I will also seek endorsements from other Democratic leaders in my community including Kelly Breen, Jason Morgan, and Rosemary Bayer.
Top financials Contributors
Website and social media links
At this time, the top financial supporter is Memora.design - they are a local to Northville company with graphic design, website development and similar web-based design offerings. This is a woman-owned company and they created an updated website for my 2024 campaign as an in-kind donation. Otherwise, the top financial supporters are friends who are education justice advocates. I am just getting started with fundraising, as the filing deadline is in a few days and the campaign season is just starting for school board.
LisaMcIntyreNPSBoard.com; FB - Friends of Lisa McIntyre - Northville School Board; IG - lisamcintyrenpsboard; X/Twitter - @LisaMcI_71
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?
As a school board trustee, there are many ways I engage the community of parents, caregivers, community members and students around all the issues that impact public education in our community. For our Facility & Review Committee, stakeholders from all areas of the community were included, including students, staff, parents, and community members before seeking a capital improvement bond in order to be aligned with all stakeholders in our community. Under my leadership, I continue to insist on bringing student voice to the Board of Education through annual visits to each school in the district in which students present to the board. For parents and staff and community members, they are embedded in the processes related to curriculum especially, through the District Curriculum Council, along with more informal opportunities through PTA meetings, meetings with building leaders and staff, and as a BOE trustee, I do my best to be available to phone calls, meetings, and maintain a strong social media presence so that I am in contact with and approachable to community members. Surveys can be useful ways to gather input from stakeholders, although not always given how context and data can be manipulated, as well as the possibility of low response rate that can also skew data. In our community, we have also used restorative circles within community settings to bring awareness around problems within the community and seek solutions.
What are your thoughts on school discipline and the way it is exercised in your school district? What are your thoughts on restorative practices?
School discipline is an area for continued focus in our community. Through our Northville Youth Network, the community has seen an increase in referrals for diversion and services for racially charged incidents between youth. In the 2023-2024, with our focus on expanding the ways in which we appropriately and sensitively address inclusion for each student, the district made significant financial investments in restorative practices, training every staff members in the district and building capacity to engage in difficult conversations regarding incidents that occur in the school community. Next, I expect that we will move beyond the schools and into the greater community in order to start to change the way we hold each other accountable for a kinder, gentler and more inclusive community. Helping students and staff learn to engage in these kinds of conversations will hopefully start to change the trajectory in Northville. Consistency across the board in terms of engaging in dialogue along with holding staff and students accountable for this culturally responsive work will be important.
What are your thoughts on how to improve student mental health
In Northville, we have increased the number of high school counselors, we added a full time mental health counselor at the high school, and we have implemented age-appropriate curricula for social-emotional learning across all buildings in the district. In 2024, we also started the process to bring a school-based health center to our community with grant funding from MDHHS. Unfortunately, the community partner the district first sought a partnership with ended up choosing to not move forward with the health center, due to negative pressure from a small minority in our community. I am committed to pursuing other high quality opportunities for youth and families in our community in order to increase equitable access to health care. In addition to providing supports for mental health, I am committed to helping our community find the balance around expectations for high achieving communities. The pressures that students experience around taking numbers AP and other high level courses, along with participation in many extra-curricular activities is intense and also contributes to mental health challenges for secondary students. Moving forward, it will be essential to maintain adequate funding for programming to support mental health. This also includes adequate funding for school safety given the number of school shootings and the ripple effects across all schools in the US.
What are your thoughts on ways to improve Black student achievement in your district and in Michigan schools overall?
To improve Black student achievement in our district and across Michigan, we must build capacity to be anti-racist and to increase representation for Black students in terms of educators and building leaders. Eliminating racial incidents and tension toward Black students is critical so that Black students can feel safe in school and free from harm. In addition, representation matters for Black students in creating a safe educational space. Developing and implementing equitable grading practices is also an essential component for Black student achievement. Providing access to reading materials, guest speakers and community members who represent the Black community is also critical for improving Black student achievement. Also, asking Black families what additional resources would be beneficial for success is important.
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?
First of all, since being elected to the Board of Education in Northville in 2020, the district has reaffirmed and expanded its stated commitment to all students. To me, that is our north star and holds each of us accountable for continuing to address our ongoing commitment to improving the ways that truly support each and every student. We have implemented restorative practices as mentioned in a previous question. We have addressed curricula to increase representation of our diverse population through library materials and texts used in coursework. In terms of capital building projects, the district is investing in building upgrades to create more collaboration spaces for students and staff, and improving accessibility in buildings when needed. In an affluent community like Northville, we know there is also some economic disparity, so we offer personal devices for students to use in the secondary levels. We also have pursued a school based health center in order to provide equitable access in our community to health services to support healthy students and improve health outcomes in our community. We continue to expand awareness of culture and religion through programming such as International Nights in elementary schools, a calendar of religious and cultural celebrations published by the district, and other similar types of programming. Moving forward with the understanding that preparing kids in Northville to be culturally responsive to each other does offer each of them the best opportunities to be successful citizens of the world is one of my priorities for this next term on the Board of Education.
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?
Recruiting and retaining staff of color has been an exceptional challenge in Northville, despite the competitive pay and benefits provided to staff in Northville Public Schools. Continuing to set high expectations for the administration to build the community of staff of color will be an ongoing focus under my leadership on the Board of Education. I am hopeful that through our restorative practice work that the both the experiences and narratives around Northville and the difficulties that people of color experience will start to change, and that Northville can lead the way around actual positive experiences for staff of color that will then positively impact our students of color.