Vote Equal Opportunity Now/
By Any Means Necessary for DFT
Your vote for a new leadership has never been more important.
BUILD THE MOVEMENT TO KEEP THE SCHOOLS CLOSED!
No face-to-face classes or “learning labs” until COVID is contained—no one returns until it is safe for everyone to return.
No more second-class treatment of Detroit students.
* Mandatory free mass testing for all students attending in-person classes.
* Reliable, quality virtual education! Hard caps on virtual class sizes and caseloads; Reduced hours for virtual teaching; Reliable internet & technology with training for teachers and students; Technology must be provided for all students and replaced when needed
* No merit pay! No high-stakes testing and evaluations during the pandemic.
* No penalties, academic or otherwise against students or parents for not attending face-to-face classes. No penalties for students for the failure of online technology.
* No discrimination or exploitation of immigrant communities! Bilingual education at every grade and level; including group and individual instruction, technology, books and any other materials in the students’ home language; all communication with parents in their home language.
* Restore union democracy, membership control.
* Vitti must go!
* Trump must be removed by any means necessary.
Vote EON/BAMN Candidates for DFT Leadership:
Benjamin Royal for President
Nicole Conaway for Vice President
LaVar Johnson for Vice President
Markita Moore for Vice President
Laura Washington for Recording Sec.
Reni Woods for Treasurer
Tracy Echols for Executive Board
Brigid Odocha for Executive Board
Tracy Brown for Executive Board
Rozalyn Mitchell for Executive Board
Theresa Williams for Executive Board
Robert Hillery for Executive Board
Marla Williams for Executive Board
Kerry Williams for Executive Board
Darlisa Johnson for Executive Board
Mary Brockman for Board of Trustees
Tracy Arneau for Board of Trustees
Ballots will be mailed and emailed to members on November 17th. Ballots must be received in the Survey & Ballot Systems office by November 30th.
“You don’t know what it’s like to feel like this is my last day here (…) Sending our kids back to school face to face is a death wish.” – Brian Davenport, student at Frederick Douglass Academy, COVID survivor who was on a ventilator for nine days
We are in a life and death struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic, and for the future of our district and our union. Equal Opportunity Now/By Any Means Necessary (EON/BAMN) is leading the movement of our members, students, and community to protect our city from Trump’s deadly COVID-19 policy—at the center of which is opening our schools. COVID-19 cases and deaths are at a record high; new daily case counts already exceed the daily totals from the peak of the outbreak last spring. Our students and community need a leadership that will act decisively and unequivocally in the defense of human life. We need a union that stands on science and is not afraid to mobilize the great power of Detroit and the new civil rights movement to defeat this pandemic and end the racist, second class treatment of our students. EON/ BAMN is leading the fight and is fighting to win. Terrence Martin and the UTR Executive Board have repeatedly betrayed our members and our community by assisting Vitti in implementing Trump’s deadly racist policies. The choice is clear. Vote EON/BAMN slate, and join the EON/ BAMN Caucus. We can and must be our own heroes.
This summer, EON/BAMN led the protests to shut down face-to-face summer school—blocking buses, car caravans, and our lawsuit—and won the order from a federal judge for mandatory testing of all students attending summer school. That victory set the standard for what must be the minimum pre-condition for opening schools—frequent mass testing of all students, teachers and staff. In-person enrollment in summer school decreased by at least 57% as our actions confirmed to parents that schools were not safe. We averted a resurgence of the virus, which is spread most efficiently in schools, and helped solidify the decision of over 80% of teachers, parents and students to choose virtual learning in the fall. With news of our protests and lawsuit, district after district in Michigan and across the country announced plans to go all virtual in Fall. Yet even as Detroit was leading the national fight to protect human lives by keeping schools closed, Vitti insisted on keeping every single school building open and a daily parade of empty buses running ghost routes. It made no educational, financial or health and safety sense—but was meant to provide daycare and an overall sense of normalcy so employers could get back to the business of exploiting their workers. It was clear that Detroit is once again ‘ground zero’ in the civil rights struggle to defend our students from racist schemes to subjugate their education to business interests. The fight was on and we were poised to win.
In August, our 91% vote for a safety strike was met with great excitement by Detroiters; news reporters strained to hear our interviews over the supportive honks and shouts of people driving past our pickets at the Fisher Building. A strike of the DFT is always a strike for all of Detroit —in this case a matter of life a death for every student’s family, every worker forced back to work during the pandemic: auto workers risking their lives to make cars that no one can afford to buy, healthcare workers thrown onto the frontlines of this crisis without protection, service workers facing the daily battle to protect themselves from Trump-supporting anti maskers. News of our potential strike gave renewed hope to our entire community – finally someone was telling the truth and taking charge to stop the insane reopening plans.
The August 27th letter of agreement signed by Terrence Martin and Lakia Wilson- Lumpkins behind our backs—allowing schools to open in-person, then claiming to ‘honor choice’ without even the minimum precaution of mandatory COVID testing—was a profound betrayal, a crime against our members and all of Detroit. EON/BAMN and the DFT membership would never have agreed to betray and recklessly endanger our colleagues – hundreds of majority black and Latina/o support staff and school workers who were not afforded any such ‘choice’. We would not have agreed to put our students’ lives and long-term health at risk. Vitti’s villainous opposition to testing students made clear his determination to cover up COVID outbreaks, making it impossible for parents to make an informed choice to protect their children.We would never have agreed to a cap of 20-students for in-person classes during a pandemic – that should be the class size under normal circumstances! We would never have accepted an agreement that priced our lives at $750 per marking period ‘hazard pay,’ or any amount for that matter. This is bloodmoney.
No amount of money or lies can make us forget the family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and even students we have lost to this virus. No way. Vitti’s plan can only be carried out with the help of his treacherous company-union lackey Terrence Martin and his UTR Executive Board, in the same way all attacks on Detroit are carried out – by denying our democratic rights. Any agreement on an issue of this magnitude—where the stakes are literally life or death—must be negotiated in full view of the membership, and sent to the members for ratification. EON/BAMN is fighting for membership control of our union so we can be the voice of science and the truth that our community can trust during this crisis. We cannot fail them. Vitti AND Terrence Martin must go so Detroit can live.
Our students deserve equal education, no more racist second class treatment of Detroit students. Stop sabotaging virtual learning: unite and fight for the resources we need to learn online.
Our students deserve to be safe AND receive an equal quality education; they must be provided with EVERY resource they need to learn safely at home. The vast majority of parents and students have chosen virtual learning—but the only plan Vitti has had for virtual learning is to sabotage it. For Vitti, the crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to accomplish the same goal as every emergency manager—to shrink the district by driving students out, and create more opportunities for privatizers to take over public education in Detroit.
The current Vitti/Martin agreement to honor ‘choice’ puts our whole community at risk. It divides us against each other and our community, weakening our ability to fight for the resources our students and their families need. It does not provide real safe options for families during this crisis; instead it makes it easier for employers to exploit parents. Any policy of reopening during a global pandemic in which the safest thing is to stay home, will always exploit and discriminate against our most vulnerable students and communities. That is exactly what’s happening. Principals who want to get in Vitti’s good graces have free reign to coerce students and their families into ‘choosing’ face-to-face through lies, threats, and withholding of resources. Special needs students and English language learners are the first to be pressured into school by being deprived of the resources and assistance needed to learn at home. Sending special needs students and English learners in for early return has been a disgusting national trend. Our motto must be NO ONE returns until it is safe for EVERYONE to return.
Our first responsibility to our students is to fight for their health and safety. The current conditions are harmful to both. Teachers, students and parents can all agree: Virtual learning has been a disaster: Packed virtual classrooms, absurdly long virtual teaching/learning hours on screen, which research shows is physically and mentally harmful, a hodgepodge of virtual platforms and web apps with constant glitches, reorganizations, and updates combined with classroom curriculum that we’re supposed to adapt to a virtual format, and lack of training for teachers or students. The technology provided by philanthropists has been unreliable, and too often when there’s a problem or they break, they are not replaced.
Vitti blames virtual teachers for the hot mess he created, and then tells us to pressure our coworkers to come into the buildings. We must remain steadfast – when we stay out, we not only protect ourselves, but we are protecting our students and our whole community. An increasing number of district staff members are resigning, retiring, or simply refusing to return to work under pandemic conditions. If this situation is allowed to continue, our district will become unviable. It is the responsibility of our union to fight so that no student is forced to leave the district in search of better quality virtual options, and that nobody has to lose their livelihood to protect their health.
The only way to solve this crisis is to have 100% virtual learning and put resources into making it as successful as possible. We need a completely new plan designed by educators and experts for virtual education immediately:
* new online curriculum materials integrated into a fully developed online platform for class meetings, lesson preparation, and other educational services.
* sharp reduction in virtual teaching hours
* hard caps on virtual class sizes and caseloads
* reliable technology and internet access, high-quality devices to properly access web-based classes and content.
* bilingual education at every grade and level; including group and individual instruction, technology, books and any other materials in the students’ home language; all communication with parents in their home language.
* a clear policy that requires the administration to hire more teachers and staff when classes and caseloads reach capacity.
Implementing a plan of this nature may require establishing a new virtual education department in the district and hiring staff who know how to organize and implement virtual curriculum. It may also require shutting down schools for a period of time for system upgrades, new software installation, and to ensure staff has time to be properly trained on the new programs. But we must have a plan for long-term virtual education because this pandemic is not subsiding anytime soon.
Shut down face-to-face schools until we are all safe from COVID-19. Stop the outbreaks. Protect the lives of students, teachers, staff, and community: Mandatory COVID testing and contact tracing must be a precondition for school opening.
The schools are not safe and cannot be made safe during this pandemic. Michigan is now 3rd in the country for states with the fastest increase in cases, with a 71% increase in one week, 16,493 cases. We must shut down face-to-face learning and conduct mass testing and contact tracing immediately. There have been COVID cases at these schools that we know of: Western, Munger, Maybury, Earhart, Academy of the Americas, Bennett, Roberto Clemente, Fisher Upper, Mackenzie, Dixon, FLICS, Renaissance, Mumford, Brenda Scott Academy, Frederick Douglass. The lack of testing has allowed Vitti to cover up or downplay these outbreaks.
The district has failed to inform parents and students of positive cases in time for them to protect themselves from outbreaks. Many have not received any notification at all, and those who have received a letter or robocall from DPSCD were told they do not need to quarantine! This is completely unscientific. COVID-19 is most contagious before any symptoms begin; by the time the students were tested and the Health Department confirmed cases, they have already spread the virus to other students, staff and teachers. Even if all students were wearing masks at all times, which we all know is not true, there is no amount of PPE that can completely stop the spread of this airborne virus.
For two months of cases popping up all over the district, Vitti failed to close any schools even temporarily in response to positive cases on the basis that they were not ‘outbreaks’. As a result of this negligence, there are now enough cases that there is no denying an outbreak. Earhart Elementary/Middle, is the first school that will close for several days after an outbreak. Western has also reported an outbreak, but will not be closed because it was determined that “safety guidelines”— which are really cover-up policies—are being followed and the affected parties were quarantined. This is a Trump-level disregard for science and reality. Even school districts with an abundance of Trump supporters have a policy of at least closing their doors for a few days when they learn of confirmed positive cases. On top of that, Detroit is not even listed on the Wayne County Health Department master-list of COVID cases! This is a crime. Detroit has suffered 23% of COVID deaths in Michigan despite being only 6.7% of the state population. Black children have been hospitalized at a rate 5 times higher than white children and Latina/o children 8 times higher than white children. The majority of children who have died from COVID-19 have been black, Latina/o, and Native American children. The special recklessness with which Vitti and the district have treated the lives of immigrant students and families in Southwest Detroit paints a very clear picture of this disparity. Western and other Southwest schools have had the largest number of face-to-face students in the district and, not surprisingly, the majority of the confirmed COVID cases.
EON/BAMN members and supporters have been taking matters into our own hands by holding car caravans, informational pickets and leafleting to get the truth out to our school communities. We have found that even the majority of students and parents going into schools agree the schools should be closed. Some students at Western International High School were told they must come in for face-to-face classes if they failed a class last year. Others who wanted to switch from in-person to virtual were told they could not switch until November.We have met parents who were shocked to hear of positive cases at their child’s school—parents who were in tears dropping their kids at school because they know it’s not safe but have been denied what they need at home (laptops, training); families with multiple children made to share laptops; parents who were afraid they or their children would get in trouble if they didn’t come in; undocumented parents who want to keep their kids at home but are not eligible for federal assistance to stay home fromwork.
These are all problems that we can solve by fighting collectively—not as isolated individuals forced to make impossible decisions. We have the great advantage of having an organization, our union,which we can mobilize to win more resources for our students’ education, and for the financial support their families need to stay safe during this pandemic. That requires organizing our students and community in a united struggle for civil rights, immigrant rights and public education.
The struggle for our union is, and must be, a civil rights struggle for the people of Detroit.
“Education is by derivation and in fact the drawing out of human powers” —W.E.B. DuBois, 1906
Our union must be the champion of our students’ right to equal quality public education, defenders of their highest aspirations for their futures. We must remain intransigent and united in prioritizing human lives. Our students have been engaged in an intense struggle since the summer against the pandemic and as part of the biggest civil rights movement in this country’s history, in defense of their lives from racist police brutality and racist ICE deportations and Trump. They are also fighting for their lives against the deadly pandemic that has ravaged black and Latina/ o communities. The movement was their summer school. They have lost family members, some have been sick to the point of being hospitalized on a ventilator, isolated from friends and family. But they have also seen how much power they can have. The movement has been characterized by independent action—people taking matters into their own hands in the face of the failure of both the Republican and Democratic parties and their so called leaders. The movement early in the summer won more in one month than in 50 years of politicians speechifying. They have learned to have higher expectations for what they can win through their own actions. This self-assertion, rise in expectations is exactly what Vitti/Martin et al fear and are trying desperately to demoralize and suppress.
For decades we have heard one excuse after another about why Detroit students can’t have the quality public education they deserve, with small class-sizes, up-to- date books, a full array of creative arts, music, physical education, AP classes, foreign languages, etc. The ‘reformers’ always claim they are the saviors of Detroit students, that Detroit students need a different kind of education, high-discipline, narrow vocational training, scripted test-prep curriculum, etc. Now they want to use the pandemic as an opportunity to impose this new Jim Crow cheap education on Detroit students, to lower our expectations by forcing us to accept a plan in which we sacrifice ours and our students’ lives ‘for the good of the economy.’
At the September school board meeting, we proudly listened to our students passionately and eloquently standing up to Vitti and the board, demanding equal quality virtual education. They described the harmful physical and mental effects of excessive daily screen time, demanding a schedule with reduced online hours—a rational schedule that includes training on a limited number of virtual platforms, and allows for independent study and the addressing of mental health issues and trauma related to the pandemic. Vitti dismissed them, saying they don’t represent the majority of students because they’re too self-motivated and high-achieving; in other words they expect too much for themselves. He repeatedly says “we’re not Bloomfield Hills or Grosse Pointe” and tweets that advocating for keeping schools closed during the pandemic is ‘elitist’ because parents have to work. We value our lives and our children’s lives just as much as anyone in Bloomfield Hills and Grosse Pointe and we are not ok with sacrificing their lives because they are ‘behind academically.’ That’s why Detroiters overwhelmingly chose virtual learning.
Keeping schools open only gives employers more power to get everyone back to work and gives families fewer options to stay safe by staying home. A superintendent’s job ought to be to fight for resources for students and their families, so they don’t have to make impossible choices. Vitti is isolated and hated, but his stay in Detroit has been prolonged as he is protected by Terrence Martin and UTR. They both must go.
Under the company union misleadership of Terrence Martin we are just another bureaucratic organization that continues to fail our youth. UTR would have us teach our students, through cowardly example, that when our very lives are under attack, we compromise, go along to get along, and back down to tyrants. Our students deserve our utmost respect as leaders and critical thinkers and our solidarity in action. We must fight to protect their lives and champion their highest dreams and ambitions by any means necessary.
Saving lives in the pandemic requires restoring union democracy to defend the democratic rights of the people of Detroit
Our union is like a muscle—if we don’t use it we will lose it. If we don’t take back membership control of our union and continue to allow insane policies that literally put our lives at risk to be imposed on us, not only will we not have a union, we will have utterly failed the youth of Detroit. The EON/BAMN slate is asking for your vote. We are calling on you to join us in taking action now because lives are at stake every day.
Now is not the time to allow cynical bureaucrats to put our democratic rights ‘on mute’ – if the last few school board meetings had been in-person, Vitti and the board would have had to run off the stage like so many board meetings in the past to escape the rightful outrage of the community. We also have not had the opportunity in our union meetings to raise motions and fully express our opposition to Terrence Martin/UTR’s sellout agreements. But even with these physical limitations, we still hold the most powerful weapon in our hands: Our schools can’t run without us and when we fight our whole city fights with us.
In this moment in history, in which the pandemic has brought all the racism and inequality bubbling up to the surface, with a racist madman Donald Trump threatening to steal the election, this is our moment to re-moralize and remobilize our movement by taking aim at one of the main pillars of Trump’s deadly reopening plan. The victories of the movement this summer have reminded us of the enormous power we have. Vote EON/ BAMN. It’s time to elect a leadership that is prepared to embrace that power and fight to win. 2020.11.01
No merit pay! Mobilize to stop Lansing’s union busting attacks on Detroit
The new pay structure imposed by Lansing and spun by Vitti as his administration’s ‘success’ threatens to destroy both our collective bargaining rights and public education in Detroit. Lansing now requires that new teacher compensation be based entirely on subjective evaluations and test scores, and prohibits the union from negotiating compensation for teachers hired under this new system. This requirement applies only to Detroit’s public schools—not a single other district in the state. Rather than mobilize the members to action to defeat these racist, Detroit-only regulations, Martin has ceded all rights to Vitti to determine base pay and merit pay bonuses for new teacher hires. This is a clear overreach from Lansing that we can absolutely defeat. We need EON/BAMN leadership NOW to end all the rotten vestiges of emergency management and state takeover.
EON/BAMN’s record of leadership
There are two parties running in this election with two completely opposing aims for our union and for education in Detroit:
Equal Opportunity Now/By Any Means Necessary (EON/BAMN) has been leading in action to prioritize human lives in this pandemic, to end the racist second-class treatment of our students and our city. Our students’ lives and minds are precious, and they deserve equal quality virtual education to learn safely at home until COVID-19 is contained.
EON/BAMN led the fight to restore the democratic rights of the people of Detroit. Our sickouts in 2015-2016, initiated by EON/BAMN leaders Nicole Conaway, Tracy Brown and Steve Conn, inspired student walkouts and together we drove the last emergency manager Darnell Earley out of Detroit. Our leadership put an end to emergency management in Michigan and kicked off a national strike wave. In January 2015, when DFT members elected Steve Conn president of the local, EON/ BAMN immediately began rebuilding our union; we held regular mass membership meetings and building rep trainings; we mobilized DFT members with students and parents to drive out abusive tyrant principals, fought grievance campaigns, and supported unfair labor practice charges against the emergency managers.
Benjamin Royal led the fight that defeated Vitti’s effort to add more work days to the district calendar during the 2019 wage reopener. Through this fight, we took a tremendous step toward rebuilding the union and restoring our fighting reputation by turning out the first quorum at a membership meeting in over two years. The EON/BAMN slate are civil rights leaders fighting for our members and our students. We are ready to lead and fighting to win.
UTR has aligned themselves with Trump during this deadly pandemic by allowing our schools to stay open. The agreement between Terrence Martin/UTR and Vitti against our members is a death pact that threatens our lives, the future of our district and our union.
For years UTR have been the unscrupulous toadies of the attackers of public education in Detroit, serving as their representatives in our union. UTR helped Republican Governor Snyder to impose the authoritarian state takeover of Detroit Public Schools by suppressing union democracy, holding back our struggle – demoralizing, and decimating our union membership so much that for years membership meetings did not have quorum. UTR has taken advantage of anti-union ‘right-to-work’ laws by excluding members from participating or voting in our union election; they have taken every opportunity to rebuff the fighting spirit of the members and the people of Detroit and relegate the DFT to the status of company union.
Vote EON/BAMN Candidates for DFT Leadership:
Benjamin Royal for President
Nicole Conaway for Vice President
LaVar Johnson for Vice President
Markita Moore for Vice President
Laura Washington for Recording Sec.
Reni Woods for Treasurer
Tracy Echols for Executive Board
Brigid Odocha for Executive Board
Tracy Brown for Executive Board
Rozalyn Mitchell for Executive Board
Theresa Williams for Executive Board
Robert Hillery for Executive Board
Marla Williams for Executive Board
Kerry Williams for Executive Board
Darlisa Johnson for Executive Board
Mary Brockman for Board of Trustees
Tracy Arneau for Board of Trustees
Benjamin Royal for President
Our city and state face a deadly resurgence of COVID-19. To protect our students, our communities, and ourselves, we must act to shut down all face-to-face schools and “learning centers,” fight for a real plan to stop Vitti’s sabotage of virtual education, and win regular mandatory testing as a precondition of any reopening. Testing is the only way to determine if reopening is even safe. Most importantly, we need a DFT leadership that will fight for these demands.
I am committed to putting the members back in control of the union – no LOAs signed behind the backs of the members, membership votes on all agreements, and all bargaining meetings accessible to members. Union power comes from union democracy and membership action. Now is the time to elect a leadership committed to defeating the pandemic and fighting for real improvements in our pay and working conditions. Vote EON/BAMN!
Benjamin Royal
Maybury Elementary
EON/BAMN Slate for President
Nicole Conaway for Vice President
I have been a leader in the fight to defend our schools and build union democracy since I joined DFT in 2006. As Vice President I would organize the collective power of our membership to win our demands, first and foremost a SAFE working/learning environment. Workplace safety must be the top priority of any union leader. Martin and Wilson-Lumpkins 
committed their greatest betrayal of members, students, and our community by agreeing to allow members to work face-to-face during the pandemic. They are the epitome of “company union” beauracrats.
EON/BAMN leadership is independent and unafraid to mobilize the membership to win the safety measures we need – mandatory Covid testing of students and the resources to make remote learning manageable until it’s safe to return and reverse the unfair two-tier pay scale meant to divide and conquer the DFT.
Elect EON/BAMN/BAMN Leaders who Fight to win! Vote EON/BAMN!
Nicole Conaway
Communication and Media Arts High School
EON/BAMN Slate for Vice President
LaVar Johnson for Vice President
I am running for Vice-President of the Detroit Federation of Teachers to return power to the members. The DFT has low morale due to a lack of leadership. Dr.Vitti and some administrators have no respect for us and will continue to treat us as second class citizens until we choose a new direction. I am representing all the teachers who believe in a respected local. I stand with the building reps who are tired of having their calls and emails not answered for months by Mr. Martin. I represent the 24 JROTC Instructors that have not had their contract honored by the District or supported by Union for ten years, costing us over a million dollars. I’m running to have an executive board that represents all facets of the DFT. We’re asking for your Vote to honor our retirees, counselors, attendance agents, and all non-instructional staff that fall under DFT.
SFC LaVar Johnson, JROTC Instructor
Renaissance High School
EON/BAMN Slate for Vice President
Markita Moore for Vice President
My name is Markita Moore and I am asking for your vote for the role of Vice President of the Detroit Federation of Teachers Union. I am in my 9th year of public school teaching, with 4 years of service in DPS. I am a proud product of DPS (Cass Tech class of ‘96) and am honored to currently be working as Director of Bands at Cass Tech. I am a lifelong Detroiter, educator and activist who is passionate about working hard to create better conditions for our teachers, students and community. I worked to build the union at Bethune and stood with EON/BAMN to block the buses and keep COVID out of our schools. Our union CAN be strong, transparent, and a place for ALL members to have an active and involved voice. We must return union power to the union membership! Vote for CHANGE. Vote EON/BAMN Slate.
Markita Moore
Cass Technical High School
EON/BAMN Slate for Vice President
Laura Washington for Recording Secretary
I have taught in Detroit 8 years now, 5 in DPSCD. I left charter schools seeking more transparency, autonomy, advocacy, and financial mobility. By my 2nd year in DPSCD, it began resembling the charter schools with mandated scripted curriculums, constant oversight, increased testing, and mentions of a merit based salary. I, like many others, was disappointed to find DFT doing little to fight back against these attacks. A union advocates for its members and transforms public education. Ours, for too long, has consisted of extreme compromise and collaboration with management. When 91% of our union voted in favor of a strike, in favor of taking back power, Terrance Martin signed an LOA without the union vote, stripping us of our decision making power.
Enough is enough!
EON/BAMN vows to reinstate union democracy, to listen to our members, and to provide full transparency in all negotiations.
Laura Washington
Renaissance High School
EON/BAMN Slate for Recording Secretary
Reni Woods for Treasurer
My name is Reni Woods and I am running for Treasurer of the DFT with the EON/BAMN Slate. As a proud graduate of Detroit Public Schools, I started my career as an educator in DPS. Having decided to return to the district a few years ago, I reached out to the current DFT leadership with a few questions. Unfortunately, no one felt it necessary to respond to my email. As a dues paying member, I have occasionally reached out expressing concerns, and still no response. It’s been two years! My expectation is that elected leadership should respond to its members. If you are unwilling to communicate with me, how can you possibly represent me? I am seeking change. Vote EON/BAMN!
Reni Woods
Renaissance High School
EON/BAMN Slate for Treasurer
Tracy Brown for Executive Board
The brutally draconian treatment that Detroit has suffered can no longer be ignored!
COVID-19’s deadly impact on our community requires strong proactive leadership! As a board member on the Mackenzie Noble Community Collaborative, I have played a prominent role within the community. I spearheaded the 2015-2016 teacher sick-outs that was instrumental in ending emergency management. This summer I worked with strong activists that included teachers, parents, students and community leaders. Our daily activism fighting for the lives, safety and wellbeing of the DPS community lead to some of us being jailed to shut down face-to-face instruction in summer school. We essentially shut down face-to-face instruction this summer, which likewise lead to giving the community a choice in the fall.
In remembrance, Rosa Parks sat so King could march. King marched so Barrack could run. I run so our students and teachers can soar!
Tracy Brown
Mackenzie Elementary-Middle
EON/BAMN Slate for Executive Board
Tracy Echols for Executive Board
As a child, I remember sitting at home on a school day watching the news thinking “WOW, look at all those school people!” “Striking, fighting for something!” I was so proud of those powerful people. We are the descendants of those people- what happened to OUR VOICE?
We no longer have a VOICE under this current leadership, and it is proven time after time. I refuse to get excited about breadcrumbs when we could be holding out for the whole loaf of bread. This union has a legendary legacy- LET’S GET THE DFT BACK ON ITS FEET!!!!
Our children deserve the very best, and no one should be kept from reaching their full potential. However, we need to shut down schools until the pandemic is contained and it is safe to reopen. Nothing is more important than our children’s health and safety. Vote EON/BAMN!
Tracy Echols
Neinas Dual Language Learning Academy
EON/BAMN Slate for Executive Board
Robert Hillery for Executive Board
I have a long history in the labor movement. Before coming to DPS where I currently serve as building rep for Denby High School, I served as a UAW shop steward. I am running for DFT Executive Board because I know we can do so much better than the horrible deals we currently have. Face-to-face schools need to be shut down, and we need to make that happen through membership action. We have to fight for real quality virtual education for the entire district until it is safe to reopen the buildings, and real raises so we can make the district a place where people want to work and have careers. It’s what’s best for our students.
I am running for DFT Executive Board because I know we can do so much better than the horrible deals we currently have. Face-to-face schools need to be shut down, and we need to make that happen through membership action. We have to fight for real quality virtual education for the entire district until it is safe to reopen the buildings, and real raises so we can make the district a place where people want to work and have careers. It’s what’s best for our students.
Robert Hillery
Denby High School
EON/BAMN Slate for Executive Board
Rozalyn Mitchell for Executive Board
As an Attendance Agent in the DFT union I believe that Non-instructional members (i.e. Agents, Counselors, Social Workers and others) often feel unimportant and undefended by the DFT Board. We need equal step/pay increases, equal protections against COVID (including all virtual work excluding no duty), and DFT board members who stand and fight for ALL members. Too often we are left behind in the fight and it has to end.
So I have teamed up with the EON/BAMN slate to make sure that our voices are heard. I will make sure to speak and fight for ALL members equally. I will make sure that when negotiations go forward we too will be seen, heard and fought for. Vote for Rozalyn Mitchell for Executive Board – EON/BAMN Slate.
Rozalyn Mitchell
Mumford High School
EON/BAMN Slate for Executive Board
Kerry Williams for Executive Board
My name is Kerry Williams. I am a proud Detroit Public Schools graduate and veteran teacher. I have been an active union member for the past 18 years.
I’m running with the EON/BAMN slate, because we actually fight for teacher and student rights in the district. The current union leadership kept us working without a contract for months- UNACCEPTABLE. Even after our membership voted FOR a safety strike, current union leadership betrayed us and signed an opening agreement behind our backs- UNACCEPTABLE. The current leadership won’t organize real action to keep schools closed during a global pandemic- UNACCEPTABLE.
Meanwhile, EON/BAMN slate took action, organizing car caravans, flier distribution and rallies to keep schools closed. CoVid-19 is real. ALL schools need to be safe and entirely virtual with real, effective online options. We need many changes. We need a union that actually represents and fights for its members.
Kerry Williams
The School at Marygrove
EON/BAMN Slate for Executive Board
Darlisa Johnson for Executive Board
Greetings DFT Family; my name is Darlisa Johnson and I’m a proud DPSCD Teacher and I have been with the district for 26 years! I’m a DPS Alumni and parent of two DPS graduates! My oldest child is also an ESE teacher for the district.
I’ve gone from being an aide, to classroom teacher and now I’m a special education homebound teacher. Through my matriculation throughout the district I’ve seen so much, both good and bad. It is my goal to ensure that fair and equitable treatment is given to all DPSCD employees.
I am willing to fight on behalf of everyone. Allow me to help restore our trust in the union; DFT Strong forever. I hope I can have your vote. Thank you.
Darlisa Johnson
Special Education Homebound Teacher
EON/BAMN Slate for Executive Board
Mary Brockman for Board of Trustees
Hello fellow DFT, my name is Mary Jo Brockman. I have been with Detroit Public Schools as a teacher for over 20 years. I was an Alternate Building Rep for 3 years and have been a DFT Building Representative for over 10 years. I am and always will be a PROUD union member. If elected to the position of Trustee, I will follow and abide by the Union Constitution and Bylaws.
Mary Brockman
Marquette Elementary-Middle School
EON/BAMN Slate for Board of Trustees
Tracy Arneau for Board of Trustees
I possess many strong qualities as a third generation union member and educator which make me an excellent candidate for Trustee of the DFT. In addition to being a highly qualified educator for over 15 years, I hold a BA from Walsh College. Previously, I worked in corporate America over a decade as an account manager. Currently, I sit on a board that oversees financial planning of assets in excess of $500,000. I am capable of balancing budgets, preparing and presenting financial statements and documents that are required as a Trustee of the DFT. People who know me would describe me as being very motivated and results driven. Therefore, it is my primary goal to bring total and complete transparency of the DFT’s financial status to the membership.
Vote EON/ BAMN straight slate if you truly want individuals that will fight for your rights!
Tracy Arneau
Bennett Elementary School
EON/BAMN Slate for Board of Trustees
Candidates’ Statements Not Available:
Brigid Odchoa
Sampson-Webber Academy
EON/BAMN Slate for Executive Board
Theresa Williams
Burton International Academy
EON/BAMN Slate for Executive Board
Marla Williams
Munger Elementary-Middle School
EON/BAMN Slate for Executive Board
