Nine people are vying for three open seats on the board. All board members have four-year terms.

Many of the school board candidates are active members of the community and school district. They include: Stacey Beane, Dan D’Alessandro, Tom Donnelly, Katherine East, Jennifer W. Guthrie, Bruce Meyers, Kallie Roesner, Heather Shafer, and Rick Vandecar.

The Oxford Leader is interviewing three candidates per week, in alphabetical order.

Following are brief introductions of East, Guthrie, and Meyers:

Katherine East, who works as a dental hygienist, has been a resident of Oxford for two years.

Before coming to Oxford, East and her family lived in Tennessee.

She holds a bachelor’s of science in dental hygiene from the University of Tennessee.

East has three children, all of whom are currently attending schools in the district.

East’s son Caleb is a 1st-grader at Daniel Axford Elementary; her daughter, Ahlivia, is a 3rd-grader at Oxford Elementary School; and her daughter, Janelle, is a 6th-grader at Oxford Middle School.

“I have a vested interest (in the district) since I have three children in three different schools here in Oxford,” said East.

According to East, she has a desire to learn more about how the board of education operates.

“I don’t know that I have any main issues (that I want to focus on.) I just want to know a little bit more about how the school systems work, why they make some of the decisions that they do and how they go about doing that,” East said.

When asked what strengths she will bring to the Oxford Board of Education, East responded, “I think I will be able to bring an open mind and diversity to the board.”

Jennifer Guthrie and her family lived in Oxford for ten years before relocating to Arizona in 2011.

In 2014, they made the decision to return to Oxford, where they reside today.

“My husband and I chose to come back to Oxford because we think it’s such an outstanding place to live, especially from the stand-point of the school district and I just want to contribute to that. I want to give back,” she said.

Upon returning to Oxford, Guthrie began working with Oxford Schools, first as a K-12 substitute teacher, and later as a paraprofessional at Oxford Middle School.

In May 2016, Guthrie left the district to work in employee wellness. She holds a master’s in preventive rehabilitative exercise prescriptions from Indiana University Bloomington.

When she departed from the district, Guthrie vowed not to lose sight of the importance of education and issues within the community.

“I fell in love with working at the school. I really felt like it was an opportunity to give back to my community and be a part of knowing and understanding what’s happening and be that boots-on-the-ground person who understands at a community level what was happening with our kids at all levels. I don’t have any kind of personal agenda. I don’t have any issues related to my own kids, it’s really much more about Oxford to me. I just love this community,” Guthrie said.

Her daughter, Katie recently graduated from Oxford High School and her son, Will, is an incoming sophomore.

According to Guthrie, there are several issues she’d like to tackle, if elected to the board.

“I want to help with the millage (proposals), obviously. That’s the biggest thing that stands out. (I want) to help people become more aware of the advantages. I want to be a solutions-oriented positive voice in any opporunity in the district,” said Guthrie.

Guthrie also hopes to learn more about the Oxford High School international program from an administrative perspective, after having served as the program’s after-school ESL instructor during her time working with the district.

She hopes to bring a fresh perspective and positive mindset to the district.

Bruce Meyers has been a resident of Oxford Township for over six years.

He attended University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, graduating with a bachelor of science degree. He later obtained a bachelor of medical science and a doctor of podiatric medicine from the California College of Podiatric Medicine, now known as Samuel Merritt University in San Francisco, California. Meyers has owned a podiatric private practice in Rochester since 1979.

During his time working in the podiatric field, he said he has spoken with many of his patients, who are teachers and administrators, about issues in education and has stayed active within the district by attending board meetings.

Meyers has also spent much of his time volunteering during school events within several school districts in the past, including Rochester and Pontiac Schools.

According to Meyers, he would like to bring a heightened sense of transparency and more open communication to the district, if elected to the board.

“The public wants to see public offices and those elected to public positions being honest. They want them to be transparent and work for the public interest, instead of their own,” said Meyers.

Meyers would also like to focus on bringing more students into the Oxford school district at the elementary school level.

“My catch phrase is ‘I want to put lipstick on the elementary schools,’ I want to make them look good, get new playground equipment, make the landscape better. I want to attract more outside families (to the district’s elementary schools),” said Meyers.

Meyers is running for the position alongside his wife, Kallie Roesner. If both are elected, Meyers said he felt they would both be assets to the board.

“It gives us a chance to bounce ideas off each other and gives us more insight and more in-depth because she might see things that I don’t so that works as well. We don’t always agree on everything, so we’re both very independent in that way,” said Meyers.