The Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education picked Steve Norton to fill the vacancy on the board at last night’s meeting. Norton is the parent of two AAPS grads and has been involved in school finance and policy matters professionally and as a volunteer for many years.
Norton says he hopes to help lower the temperature on some of the current discussions and debates the district is facing. The appointment to the board runs through the end of 2026 and Norton says he does not intend to run in the November election for the two years remaining for this position.
Norton believes an open and honest dialogue is needed about the extremely difficult questions about what the district needs and what is possible financially. “I want to emphasize that much of the reason for that rests with policies set over many years in the state capitol and not here,” Norton says. “The enemy is not in this room. We have legitimate differences, frustrations and hopes. How we address those differences and frustrations will shape how our community’s children are educated for years to come, but for decades, policies have been made in Lansing which were subtly intended to foster the very conflicts and anger that we have seen in our community and here tonight.”
Norton calls for more discussion with the community as the district unfortunately will have hard choices to make in choosing between priorities, since the funding isn’t in place to fund everything. “No matter how much we want to be able to pay our teachers, things like large class sizes can actually hurt some students more than others, Norton says. “Reductions of programming can hurt some students more than others if families don’t have the ability to backfill and give kids the experiences that they would have otherwise have gotten through school.”
The trustees thanked all six candidates who applied to fill the board vacancy and encouraged them to stay engaged with the district and consider running for seats on the board in November.
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