From left, Clarkston Community Schools Board of Education members Greg Need, Kelli Horst, Elizabeth Egan, Shawn Ryan, Steve Hyer, Stefanie Crane, Andrea Catalina, and Cheryl McGinnis gather at the district’s 2019 commencement ceremony, which was held June 3, 2019 at DTE Energy Music Theatre. Photo provided

Clarkston Community Schools is joining 544 local and 57 intermediate school districts across Michigan to celebrate School Board Recognition Month in January.
“In a year full of challenges for public education not seen in recent history, our school board members persevered through the adversity of 2020 to provide the best possible education for our students,” said CCS Superintendent Dr. Shawn Ryan. “Celebrating School Board Recognition Month is one of the very small ways to express appreciation for all they do.”
The current school board includes president Kelli Horst (six years of service), VP Greg Need (four and a half years), treasurer Elizabeth Egan (10 years), secretary Steve Hyer (19 years), and trustees Andrea Catalina (three and a half years), Stefanie Crane (year and a half), and Cheryl McGinnis (13 years).
School board members represent the views and priorities of their community in the complex system of maintaining and running a district’s public schools and reinforce the principle of local control over public education.
Ryan added the school board’s main goal is to support student well-being and achievement, focusing on the following needs: creating a vision for what parents and citizens want their school district to become, approving standards for what students must learn and be able to do, assessing whether schools achieve their goals and whether students are learning, accounting for the outcomes of decisions and by tracking progress and reporting results, aligning the use of the district’s human and financial resources, creating a safe and orderly climate where students can learn and teachers can teach, collaborating to solve common problems and to support common successes, and focusing on continuous improvement by questioning, examining, revising, refining and revisiting issues related to the student experience.
“Even though we are making a special effort during January to show appreciation for our school board members, we recognize their contributions reflect a year-round effort on their part,” Ryan said.
“No matter what challenges lie ahead for our district in 2021, our school board members will continue to govern to improve student achievement and provide exceptional education for all our community’s children.”