Even though former Dearborn School Board member Mary Petlichkoff had the endorsement of Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly, five Dearborn City Council Members, the current State Rep. and a former State Rep, she failed to win a seat on the School Board, and was defeated by a wide margin.  When all votes were tallied, Aimee Blackburn came in first with 19,124 votes, followed by Mary Lane with 16,930 votes while Mary Petlichkoff obtained 13,784 votes.  Blackburn and Lane’s victory stemmed from voters across the entire city renewing their confidence in them, including absentee voters.

This isn’t the first time Petlichkoff has come up short. In the past, she lost several elections trying to get a seat on the board before running in an uncontested race in 2007. She served for only one term before she was unseated last year by Roxanne McDonald.  

The difference is that this time, her main backer, HFCC’s teachers union, worked hard to secure key endorsements for her and spent thousands of dollars to send literature all throughout the city.  She was therefore supported by the Dearborn Federation of Teachers (DFT) as well as other Dearborn school unions, the UAW and the Dearborn Democratic Club.  Dearborn voters however, sent a very strong message this time to Petlichkoff and her backers, if she, or they, are even listening.  Apparently she didn’t listen to the voters who sent her home last year, and neither did some local officials who decided to throw their endorsement behind her, including Mayor O’Reilly, State Rep George Darany, and City Council Members, Mark Shooshanian, Brian O’Donnell, Nancy Hubbard, Bob Abraham and David Bazzy. She was also endorsed by attorney Michael Berry, Andrew Mazarra, and YAPAC (Yemeni American Public Affairs Council).

Petlichkoff has been extremely controversial in the Arab Community in the past. She was the driving force behind a special committee, which was formed to study the idea of re-documenting all students in Dearborn Schools. Petlichkoff argued that too many students were illegally entering our school system, especially at Edsel Ford High School (South end students included) and wanted all students to go through a residency verification process in order to remain in Dearborn Schools. This never happened, mainly because the committee decided it was too costly and wouldn’t yield the results she is seeking. Petlichkoff also tried to spearhead a policy that would punish students for speaking Arabic inside school buildings. She cited concerns about her own child feeling intimidated by students speaking a language other than English in the hallways and lunch rooms. 

However, the most controversial issue she was involved in was the Jerry Marszalek lawsuit against the School District and former Fordson Principal Imad Fadlallah. Marszalek was a Fordson wrestling coach that was fired from the district because of his ties to the controversial pastor, Trey Hancock, who was trying to convert Muslim kids to Christianity. Among the evidence submitted in the lawsuit was an email from Petlichkoff, then a sitting Board member, encouraging Marszelak to continue with his lawsuit and also warning him about the ACLU. She told him that a local Muslim was on the Board of the ACLU and is “a strong supporter of Arab issues and church v. state has been twisted to work only in their favor.” Marszelak responded by thanking her for the “heads up on the ACLU.”

So why would YAPAC , Michael Berry and George Darany support a candidate that obviously has resentment toward the Arab community? What could YAPAC possibly gain by attempting to take the respected Yemeni community down that road and encouraging them to support a candidate with such a record and views? Why would the Mayor and other City officials endorse a candidate who encouraged people to sue the very own entity she was representing? What qualities, education or experience did they see in Petlichkoff, which led them to endorse her? We may never have the answer to these questions other than this is a free country and everyone is free to endorse whomever they desire.

Obviously, and apparently Dearborn voters are also free and well informed.  The above endorsements didn’t seem to matter much for them as they overwhelmingly supported longtime incumbents Aimee Blackburn and Mary Lane, friends of the Arab American community, and we, believe, the best choices for the Dearborn School District. 

Likewise, the Yemeni Community didn’t seem to care much about YAPAC endorsement which seemed to blatantly disregard that community’s best interest. In fact, of the 971 ballots cast at Salina School in the South end, Blackburn received 426 votes, Lane 412 and Petlichkoff only 254.