By BOB OLIVER
Times-Herald Newspapers
The July 25 pullout date passed and the candidates running for election to the Dearborn Public School school board in the November general election are set, but the races in Heights are yet to be finalized.
The race for the Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education will include 11 candidates vying for three spots opened up by the retirement of members Pamela Adams and James Schoolmaster and the stepping down of Chairman Hussein Berry.
The candidates will be Michelle Audia, Rodger Bartles, Mariam Bazzi, Nofila Haidar, Ahmed Harhara, Mary Anne Hering, Kenneth Jannot Jr., Ghinwah Karkaba, Michael Meade, Christopher Robert Paulsen and Mary K. Petlichkoff.
All of the seats are six-year terms.
Berry filed to run to retain his seat but pulled out of the election before the July 25 deadline.
He is also running for in the August primary election for a chance for the Democratic nomination for the 9th District state House of Representatives.
The DPS Board also serves as the board of trustees at Henry Ford College.
In Dearborn Heights, Deputy City Clerk Eve Schafer said the school board candidate lists for the three school districts are not official with the county because the office has not turned them in due to being busy preparing for the primary election and dealing with allegations of voter discrimination from residents.
She said City Clerk Walter Prusiewicz obtained an extension from the Wayne County Clerk’s Office for turning in the applications and they should be finalized and published within a week.
In Westwood Community Schools, three seats are available, those of Timothy Emery, Gregory Stephens and Sarah Ward, who currently serve as the board’s president, treasurer and secretary, respectively.
At Crestwood Schools, two positions, those of trustees Colleen Krizanic and Diane Ward, will be up for grabs.
The board positions at Crestwood and Westwood are for four-year terms.
District 7 Schools has three spots opening up on its board, those held by Vice President David Mack and Trustees Phil Shannon and Virginia Morgan.
Two of the positions at D7 are for four years and the third is for six years.
(Bob Oliver can be reached at [email protected].)