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.

Following are brief introductions of Roesner, Shafer, and Vandecar:

Kallie Roesner has been a member of Oxford Township’s planning commission and zoning board of appeals for 20 years.

She holds a bachelor of science in chemical engineering from Wayne State University.

She has been a resident of Oxford Township for over 24 years.

Roesner’s two sons both graduated from Oxford High School. During their time in school, she said she gathered experience with several of the districts’ programs.

“One of my boys was special needs so I do understand what special issues there are and how hard that can be. My other son was really active in robotics so I have quite a bit of experience there with the schools, as well,” she said.

Roesner is including the “Three P’s” in her campaign, which stand for “prioritize students” when planning district initiatives; “prepare students” for college and trade school by setting achievable goals; and “publish information” openly to the community.

“I’m going to be the voice of the board,” said Roesner. “I believe we need to communicate, disclose, respond and report. Be open books. It’s our job to do that.”

Roesner proposes using social media and clear communication during board meetings to help bring issues into the open for the public.

Under the Board of Education’s previous administration, Roesner spearheaded a local group, called TEAM 20, in 2015 to challenge district officials on several issues, following a denial of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for certain documents.

“We all need to see (every issue) as a group, so we’re better able to handle it. That’s what I learned on TEAM 20,” she said.

Roesner said, if elected, she would bring open communication and an ability to “ask tough questions” to the board.

Heather Shafer has been a resident of Oxford for 28 years.

She holds a bachelor of arts degree in interpersonal and public communications from Central Michigan University.

She has four children currently attending school in Oxford, which she feels has given her a vested interest in the district.

Two of her children attend Daniel Axford Elementary while two attend Oxford Middle School. Throughout her children’s schooling careers, Shafer said she has been very active in school activities.

Her children have attended several different schools within the district, which she feels has given her first-hand insight on the needs of the schools.

“Every school has different dynamics and I was able to really be a part of that. It gave me a great view… (I was able) to listen to each school and learn what they need and how to implement those changes,” said Shafer.

Shafer stressed the importance of keeping up-to-date on the issues within the district, noting that she has been actively attending Oxford board meetings for over two years. She said she hopes to encourage others to become more involved in the school district.

“I hope to be a voice in the school community to provide practical ways to show people how they can stay involved in Oxford Schools and continue its success. The current board, I think, has a very positive direction that they want to go in… I would really like to be a part of making some of those positive changes and I really want to be a part of involving the community. I feel like transparency is vital and as a board, we need to find practical ways to show that and to involve our families.

Shafer said, if elected, she would bring great organizational and communication skills to the board.

Rick Vandecar has been a resident of Oxford for 18 years.

He works as a Quality Director at an electrical and manufacturing company. He has also worked as a quality director for over 20 years, which he said he feels will make him a strong problem-solver.

He has four children who have attended school in the district. His oldest son, Erick, graduated as a member of the first IB program with Oxford High School in 2014. His son, Brad, recently graduated as a salutatorian of his class. His son, Nathan, and daughter, Leah, currently attend OHS.

Vandecar has coached baseball and football for the past 12 years for teams in the Oxford area, including the Oxford Junior Wildcats. He has worked alongside Head Varsity Baseball Coach Kurt Nuss for the last six years. He also volunteers his time to high school events, such as working concessions during football games.

Throughout his time coaching, Vandecar said he has noticed some changes he feels should be made to the district’s athletic department.

“We don’t seem to have any ways that we measure our athletics very well. There are no metrics on how well a coach is doing necessarily or the metrics are kind of outdated, or don’t seem to be useful. Like how many students are returning? What’s the team GPA? There are no metrics to measure coaches by, other than how much they’re liked by the athletic director,” said Vandecar.

Additionally, Vandecar said he would like to establish stricter guidelines for board members to follow.

“I think, right now, we need to look at some of the rules that we have. In the board meetings I’ve shown up to, it seems like we have rules that are written that we don’t always follow and then we have unwritten rules, that aren’t necessarily something we follow all the time. We need to have rules that we’re consistent with all the time… something that we believe in and follow in and we always use without exceptions, so there aren’t any hurt feelings or misunderstandings,” he said.

If elected, Vandecar said he will bring leadership skills, management skills, and problem-solving skills to the board.