I am a Director of Revenue Management in the hotel industry. My work centers on data, forecasting, and making smart decisions with limited resources under real pressure. Earlier in my career I led Front Office teams, where the job was simpler and harder: be genuine, be helpful, and go the extra mile, because that is what people remember.
School boards are fundamentally about stewarding budgets and setting strategy, and that is what I do for a living. A school board also works best when it represents different backgrounds. Mine would add a career in data driven financial strategy and years of hands on advocacy for our arts and music programs.
Yes, proudly and publicly. I did the homework first. I saw the band room hitting unsafe decibel levels, thousands of dollars in instrument damage from poor climate control, and a performing arts center without meaningful upgrades in over 30 years, alongside real safety needs like secure vestibules at our elementary buildings. I learned about the value of a central kitchen and the benefit of elementary schools having a dedicated gymnasium. I heard about aging infrastructure consistently put on the back burner while flashier projects moved ahead.
The voters said no in May. I was disappointed, but I respect the result. The facility needs did not disappear on election day.
I would evaluate any future proposal on its merits, but the needs are real. Our current bond millage rate of 2.92 is a genuine opportunity: we can do a lot of good for our schools while staying far below the 7.19 mills this district carried for over a decade. If a new proposal comes forward, it should be shaped by what the community said with its vote, and I will keep advocating for it to address the full picture: safety and security, aging infrastructure, and the music and performing arts spaces that have waited more than 30 years for their turn.
A four year degree is one good path. It is not the only one, and we do students a disservice when we treat it that way.
Michigan needs electricians, welders, machinists, nurses, HVAC techs, and builders, and those careers offer real wages, real security, and no student debt. A student who leaves Brighton with a certification and a job offer has succeeded. That is what Every Path means, and it is not a consolation prize.
Practically, that means making sure students and families actually know what is available to them through LESA and our own programs, starting those conversations well before senior year, and building relationships with local employers and trades organizations who are eager to train young people. I would also want to see honest data on where our graduates land, not just college acceptance rates. If we only measure one path, we will only ever invest in one path.
I support a strong security presence in our schools. Secure vestibules and district wide lockout systems were priorities I supported in the bond for a reason. As a board member I would want regular review of the security plan against actual data and best practices, because safety plans should evolve.
I have no interest in weakening what protects our kids, and I believe school should feel like school, not a fortress. Keeping students safe is the adults’ job. Enjoying being a kid is what students should be able to focus on.
Parents are partners, full stop. Every parent has the right to be deeply involved in their own child’s education, to ask hard questions of teachers and administrators, and to get real answers. What no one gets, parent or otherwise, is the right to dictate what is taught to everyone else’s kids. Curriculum decisions belong to the elected board, informed by educators, state standards, and the whole community.
As for whether I would be a rubber stamp: I spent a year and a half publicly pushing the district and the board to do better on needs they had neglected. Sometimes my votes will align with administration, sometimes they will not. I will always be able to explain my reasoning to the people who elected me.
Brighton has excellent teachers, and they have my respect. The MEA represents its members, which is its job. Mine would be different: negotiate in good faith on behalf of students and taxpayers, and make every decision independently. I would welcome the support of teachers, but I am not trading votes for any endorsement, theirs or anyone’s. Supporting teachers does not mean avoiding tough choices. Budgets are finite, and a board member who cannot say no to anyone is not doing the job.
Accountability and keeping kids in school are not opposites. Discipline should be consistent, transparent, and it must protect the learning environment for every student in the room. Where restorative practices genuinely change behavior and reduce repeat problems, they are worth using. Where they become an excuse to avoid consequences, they fail everyone, including the student in question. Before taking positions on specific policies, I want to see Brighton’s own discipline data and hear from teachers about what is actually happening in classrooms.
I also strongly support the Bridge alternative high school program. Kids who slip through the cracks too often end up with hard lives, and that becomes a burden the whole community carries. Our schools need to give struggling students support to find their path to productive adulthood. Just never at the cost of someone else’s education.
The students’. Not administration’s by default, not any union’s, not any faction’s. I have spent over a decade volunteering in these buildings and a year and a half holding the district accountable at board meetings. I support people, not parties, and I will apply the same standard to every issue that comes before the board: what is best for the kids of this district, and can I explain my vote honestly to the community that elected me.
Email me at [email protected]. I answer every message. Join the mailing list for updates between now and November, and if you see me at a game, a concert, or around town, come say hello. I would rather have one real conversation than a hundred yard signs.