Northville Needs School Board Candidates

Election Day, November 6th, is rapidly approaching and among the many important issues that Northville voters will be asked to decide will be the election of three members to the Board of Education.  Traditionally in Northville, potential candidates for this position have been reluctant to run if the incumbentof the position is running for reelection, leaving the incumbent unopposed.  However, this election is unique in that two of the three people who may be running were not elected by Northville voters but rather appointed by the current Board of Education. 

Cynthia Jankowski was among nine individuals who applied for Joan Wadsworth’s seat and Matthew Wilk was recently appointed from a field of seven applicants to serve the remainder of Anita Bartschat’s term.  Of these sixteen people who applied for these positions, three applied for both.  That means that eleven citizens wanted to be on the Board of Education but did not get one of these two positions.

It is my hope that some of these people will run for election in November.  It would be advantageous  for the Northville School community to have an opportunity to vet multiple candidates and elect the person who they would like to serve for the next four years in this most important position.  If these folks who were appointed to this position run unopposed, then the positions will de facto become appointed rather than elected positions.  While Ms. Jankowski and Mr. Wilk may be fine board members and the individuals who the community would like to serve for the next four years, Northville voters deserve to be able to make that choice by having alternative candidates from which to choose. 

As stated by the Northville Township and City of Northville Clerks office, all that is required to be filed to become a candidate is:

1. Affidavit of Identity
2. Nominating Petition (District with 10,000 or more in population according to the most recent federal census:  minimum of 40 signatures; maximum of 100 signatures.  A $100.00 non-refundable fee may be filed in lieu of a petition.)

The petition or filing fee for the Northville Public School Board Election must be filed by 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at:

Charter Township of Northville Township Clerk’s Office – 2nd Floor

44405 Six Mile Road

Northville, MI 48168      

Obviously, there are, at least, eleven people who have the interest in being a school board member and, hopefully, a few will make the effort to run.