Interviewer: So what do you think is the central issue facing DPS?

Terry Whitfield: I'm hearing doctor. Am I hear you're talking about equitable funding. So I will just take that off the table. Like the more resources that we have as a city, as a district to educate our students that are representative of the challenges that our students face. We will be in a better position.

Other than that, it's really around how are we creating coalescing a vision for what we want to see for education that can really galvanize our families, our community, to step up and be a part of the change? I think I believe that the district is only one part of the education system in Detroit.

Part of what I believe is that it takes relationships with the community, with nonprofits, with the business sector, with philanthropy to help fill in the gaps.

It takes a true partnership with parents and families, many of whom were harmed by previous iterations of our school district. And so as long as as soon as we can really come to grips with that harm and begin a community wide conversation around how do we redefine education here in the city, I believe that the students would be engaged, families would be reengaged, the district would be able to right size its role as the education specialist, and that others in the community can come in and fill the gaps around whether it's safety, basic needs, supports, other resources that the district is stretched to be able to make happen on the district level.

What does it mean at a neighborhood level within our neighborhood schools, to make sure that the community and our partners are have a say and have a place in those schools and within the district.

Interviewer: So you said that you want a new vision.

Terry Whitfield: Yeah.

Interviewer: What is the first element in this new vision that is sort of the foundation in which all the others build?

Terry Whitfield: The top two for me are one: students must come first. We are in 2026.

I was blessed to do a focus group with a group of 30 students, and I said, what's the one thing that as adults, we don't get about students in 2026? And to summarize it, they said it's not 1996. Like, they are dealing with real challenges, social media, community issues, still the real threat of violence that they feel. And so how do we really circulate everything that we do as a district around that main question of, is this in the best interest for our students?

And then secondly is of our literacy. While there has been tremendous gains, it's still 13 to 14% of our third graders are reading at grade level, and many of our students in the higher grades are still struggling with what literacy means. You know, in a post-literate world, our ability to really nail down and support our young people, to not just know what it means to read, but to develop a love of reading.

And then how do we extend that to the family?

Many families, like books, are a scarcity. And so what does it mean for us to pour into our community and to our families, and reestablish what it means to be educated? Doesn't mean you need a degree, but it doesn't mean that you have a baseline understanding so that you can step into a school, step into your son or daughter’s classroom, and have a meaningful conversation with that teacher.

Interviewer: “I wish my school had...”

Terry Whitfield: I was blessed to have parents who dedicated their lives to our education. So, middle class.

My mom graduated from Mumford. My dad graduated from Northwestern. My mom had a little bit of college. My dad went to Vietnam and then came straight home and went to work.

So for them, their education was the ceiling to their life, and they wanted to have what was best for me and my sister. They saw that through the Catholic school system.

So I went to Saint Gerard, Consolidated for K through 8, and then was blessed to be able to go to U of D. That does not mean-- University of Detroit, Jesuit High School and Academy.

That does not mean that my parents had money. They they still live in the same house on Braile as they got married in. And they sacrificed a lot for that.

What I wish that I had at that moment was connections to other positive adults who look like me.

Those that had my self interest at heart beyond being an athlete, beyond being a U of D student. But who was Terry at his core? Somebody that I could have talked to outside of my parents many times at that, you know, high school age, middle school age, you feel alone.

And so I never really had the adult in my life that I could really go to. And if that could have came from my school, it would have been icing and on the cake.

So that's what I wish I would have had, is like caring, more caring adults that cared about me as a student and not the football player, basketball player, you know, U of D student.

Candidates appear in ballot order, alphabetical by last name.

Vote for not more than 4

• Natalie Bien-Aime*

• Steve Bland Jr.

• Michelle Broughton

• Katrina Brown

• Cidney Calloway

• Bobby Christian*

• Nicole Conaway

• Vilma Escamilla Duran

• Daniel Ferguson III*

• Duane Larry Grigsby Jr.

• Bessie L. Harris

• David Harris

• C. Allan Hubbard

• Henrietta Ivey*

• Tabrian C. Joe

• Shinese Johnson

• Theodore Jones

• Georgia Mae Lemmons

• LaMar D. Lemmons

• Clement O. Lett*

• Phil Lloyd II

• Darious Morris*

• Liana Mulholland

• Tyshea Pope

• DaNetta L. Simpson

• Tawanna Simpson

• Jameel Montgomery Smith

• Calesther Smith-Arnold*

• Terry E. Whitfield

• Elizabeth A. Williams

• Theresa Williams*

* Did not participate in the CitizenDetroit candidate video series.

Ijazz Jackson*

Aliya Moore

Shawn Vaughn

* Did not participate in the CitizenDetroit candidate video series.