Smith Says 'It's Time' for Her Farmington School Board Run

Farmington Hills resident Angie Smith has been a resident for almost 14 years, and daughters Nanesha, 23, Jasmine, 19, and Asha, 13, have all attended Farmington schools.

An active parent volunteer, she has decided to run for school board in a field that includes two incumbents, Karen Bolsen and Howard Wallach, with whom she has worked closely over the years.

"It's time for me," Smith said. "It's bittersweet that it has to be against two friends."

A former PTA Council president, co-chair of the and a state PTSA representative, Smith was motivated by contentious union negotiations with support staff that resulted in at .

"I guess what prompted me to do it was when we had to wear those red shirts and walk around North Farmington," she said. "That would never have happened under (former Superintendent) Bob Maxfield's leadership."

Smith said she has talked with district workers who are fighting to keep their homes, and an employee whose wife has cancer. "When he told me how much he makes ... my 19-year-old makes more. When you see a staff member having to buy groceries with a Bridge card, that troubles me," she said.

The closure of four elementary schools also has Smith concerned, both with the crowding of students into the remaining buildings and what happens as the district's population starts moving back up.

She also believes the district's budget is "a little top heavy ... It's like saying, 'Honey the house is in foreclosure, but there's a Bentley in the driveway.' I think we need to do some cutting at the top. We need to start getting rid of stuff we don't need."

Smith questions the need for three assistant superintendents, and wonders whether the district's could have waited for a time when more money was available. She also would like to see Superintendent Susan Zurvalec take "more of a cut" in salary and eliminate more staff from the central office to get more money into the classrooms.

As a school board member, she said, she would first and foremost listen to parents, teachers and students. Smith said she has talked to teachers at the high school level who want to move back to semesters from the current trimester scheduling, a move she would support.

Smith believes school officials have "lost touch" with the community, and as an example, cites the to the Islamic Cultural Association earlier this year. Though she's plugged into the district, she said, "I knew nothing about the sale until the night it went down."

She felt the district should have gotten more than one bid and more than one appraisal before selling the property. While officials have alleged in meetings that some of the backlash over the sale has to do with bias against Muslims, Smith said, "It has nothing to do with race. What they've done now is they've caused tension between the races."

The larger problem she sees is a disconnect between the school board and the community. Board members should have had a longer community conversation around the sale, she said, adding, "People are afraid now, and they are angry. I think it could have been done in a better way."

On the flip side, parents have to be connected with their children's schools and teachers. "You can't be a parent who just stops (at school), drops (the child off) and rolls," Smith said. "You've got to be involved ... and see what's going on in the classroom."

Teachers want parents to be involved with the schools, she said, because "it's a partnership. It really does take a village."

Smith is a self-admitted pot stirrer. "I don't like anything sticking," she said. "I'm going to ask questions. I'm not going to treat anyone different from how I would treat a family member. We have to gain the trust back. This community has lost trust with the district."