Clarification on school board candidate support

The Herald ran a small news item in the September 5 issue that reminded voters of a meet and greet on Saturday, Sept. 7 at Sal’s Italian Restaurant, noting that school board incumbents Tim Simpson, Greg Lewis, Lynne Davis and Becky Brooks, along with new candidates Darin Miller and Joe Kokenakes, would meet with residents between 2 and 5 p.m. to answer questions and discuss Tecumseh Public Schools issues ahead of the November 5 election. After publication, questions were raised about the use of the term “board endorsed” to describe the two new candidates, and The Herald reached out to several candidates to investigate.

What our reporter found was that in reply to previous inquiries regarding why candidates Heather McGee, Holly Willey, and Michelle Malewitz were not invited to the meet and greet, one question was overlooked and the answer was incomplete, and the language seemed to confirm board endorsement of the other six candidates. After further discussion with the school board president and other members, it has been confirmed that the Tecumseh Public Schools Board of Education has not endorsed any candidates for the November 5 election.  

While school boards cannot endorse candidates, school board candidates are within their rights to individually support and endorse fellow candidates, presenting a “slate” of candidates to the public. According to Ballotpedia.org, a slate of candidates is “a group of candidates that run in multi-seat or multi-position elections on a common platform. The common platform may be because the candidates are all members of a political party, have the same or similar policies, or some other reason.”

While some incumbent school board candidates have presented a slate of fellow candidates, McGee, Willey, and Malewitz have done the same, by appearing together to campaign and by posting public social media posts supporting and endorsing each other. 

The Michigan Campaign Finance Act allows these practices for candidates running for office.