LaMar Lemmons
Correction: This story originally listed Elena Herrada as a former board member. She is a current one.
Continuing to line up endorsements days before Tuesday's election, mayoral candidate Benny Napoleon on Friday officially got the endorsement of several elected members of the Detroit School Board, including its president.
“We have failed our students and we have failed the future of this city because state takeover after state takeover has not worked to improve our schools and contributed to families leaving our city,” board president LaMar Lemmons said in a statement. “Emergency managers have used school dollars for no-bid contracts, hired out-of-state vendors who never delivered, and led pet projects that took away from meaningful education for our students. Once again, our state government has failed Detroit’s children.”
“The other mayoral candidate is an emergency manager in disguise,” said Lemmons. “He was part of the first DPS state takeover in 1999 when he approved $76 million in no-bid contracts. And most recently, as the governor-appointed treasurer of the Educational Achievement Authority he supported a DPS loan to the authority of $12 million, when those funds should have went to DPS academics. Mr. Duggan will forward Snyder’s agenda to dismantle the resources that afforded us to mold great leaders like Benny Napoleon.”
Napoleon has often boasted that he grew up in the city and is product of its public school system.
Besides Lemmons, the other school board members offering their endorsement include: Rev. David Murray, Ida Short, Tawanna Simpson and Elena Herrada.
