DEARBORN – As Dearborn Board of Education members Aimee Blackburn and Mary Lane run for re-election they’re being struck with questions about the state of Michigan ranking some schools in the district as Focus Schools.

Both Fordson and Edsel Ford High School among other schools received the title after some students performed below average on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) and the Michigan Merit Exam.

Both candidates have received endorsements from the Arab American Political Action Committee. A fundraiser was held in support of their campaigns at the Lebanese American Heritage Club on Oct. 17.

Focus Schools have the largest achievement gaps among students. The state also ranks schools as Reward Schools, which are higher performing schools, and Priority Schools which are described as the lowest performing schools overall. A few schools in the district didn’t receive ratings because they don’t fit any of the categories.

Lane says students don’t always take the MEAP exam seriously because it doesn’t reflect their grades. “We have to try and get them to take it seriously,” she said.

She indicated that the poor performance could be attributed to a student’s home environment. “There’s also a big and increasing gap in society, so the schools are a mirror of social problems,” Lane said.

Lane says in an effort to help groups of students who don’t meet standard school requirements, several programs and initiatives have been launched.  She says the district has worked with graduation specialists, and community liaisons to help stabilize families.  In terms of her record she said, “Our board has worked cohesively, we’ve always balanced our budget,” she said.  She says she’s proud of the 2002 Dearborn school bond she helped push for.

Lane added that the students’ scores on the two tests don’t reflect the district’s student body as a whole, and that its graduates have gone on to do great work. 

This spring one of Fordson High School’s graduates was accepted into Harvard, despite the school being rated as one of the district’s lowest performing Focus Schools. Edsel Ford High School also ranked among the lowest performing Focus Schools in the district.

“We have students who have needs…we need to target where we’re failing, but not label everyone as failing,” she said.

Lane said she’s an education innovator, and has come up with unique concepts and ideas to enhance education.  She says one approach being used is having school administrators meet with parents’ whose children aren’t performing well in an effort to make them learn what they can do to help.

“You can’t have one part of the equation, and not pay attention to the other,” she said.  

Lane received her Bachelors and Masters Degrees from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and had post-graduate training in immigration law and English as a Second Language. She is employed handling immigration, deportation, asylum, and citizenship cases. She’s taught ESL abroad and a 40-hour class entitled “Basic Immigration Law for Paralegals”.

Aimee Blackburn (left) stands with Wayne County Commissioner Gary Woronchak. PHOTOS: Nafeh AbuNab

Blackburn says, for example, Fordson High School being ranked as a Focus School doesn’t show that more than 500 of its students are taking college level courses and achieving higher grades than the average student at the college.

She pointed out that the label allows the district to focus on a select group of students, and helps breakdown information to show what it’s lacking.  

“A test is a snap shot in time, and it doesn’t tell the whole story,” she said.  Blackburn says the district has created several intervention programs to assist students that are already in place, and need more time to prove their effectiveness.

Blackburn has earned an Associate’s degree in Business from Henry Ford Community College, a Bachelor’s in Business Finance and a Master’s in Business Administration, both from Wayne State University. 

“I’ve been on the board for 12 years. I’ve been focused on the needs of the students, balanced against our fiscal challenges. I want

to continue the serving the citizens of Dearborn,” she said.