EPFP Learning Team Members:
Valerie Belay
Henry Cade
Cheryl Hall
Pat Meaux
Jane Reagan
Bonnie Rockafellow
Malverne Winborne
Resource Persons
Dr. E. Sharon Banks
Superintendent of Schools
Lansing School District
Lansing, MI
Dr. E. Sharon Banks is Michigan’s 2002 Superintendent of the Year and has
energized and revitalized the Lansing School District since her appointment as
superintendent in July 2000. Her drive, leadership, and commitment to
accountability at all levels have resulted in a solid vision and aggressive
action plan to meet the present and future needs of Lansing’s youth. She has
built her administration around improvement in five key areas: Student
achievement, student attendance, student behavior, parent involvement, and
community relations. She immediately began implementing an ambitious 17-point
plan that focuses on meeting her goals in each of those five areas. Dr. Banks
introduced five new magnet schools that focus on such areas as the visual and
performing arts, mathematics, science, technology, languages and global
studies. She quickly stabilized enrollment after years of decline. She has
beefed up efforts to fight truancy and focused resources on improving reading
and science skills. The Michigan Association of School Administrators
announced Dr. Banks’ unanimous selection as 2002 Michigan Superintendent of
the Year on November 15, 2001, citing her impact on school district students
and the Lansing community in her short tenure. The panel also cited Dr. Banks’
strong leadership, creativity in successfully meeting the needs of students,
communication skills, professionalism, and community involvement. Prior to
coming to Lansing, Dr. Banks rose steadily through the ranks of the Fort Wayne
School system, serving as teacher, dean of girls, principal, and finally area
director. Dr. Banks’ honors are too numerous to list completely, but she
previously has been named Fort Wayne Educator of the Year, Principal of the
Year for the state of Indiana by the Indiana Parent Teacher Association, and
Ball State University’s Outstanding Alumna of 1996. Dr. Banks and her husband,
Bill, have two grown children, Jody and Jonathan. While her own personal
philosophy is to be a lifelong learner, those who know her say that she is
certain to be a lifelong teacher.
Dr. Eugene Cain
Chief School Administrator
Shabazz Public School Academy
Lansing, MI
Eugene Cain currently serves as Chief School Administrator for Shabazz
Public School Academy located in Lansing, Michigan. He is a native of
Birmingham, Alabama, wherein he attended public schools, graduating from
Western Olin High School. Dr. Cain received a Bachelor of Arts in history and
economics from Talladega College, in Talladega, Alabama. He earned a Master's
Degree in education and a Doctorate Degree in curriculum and instruction from
Wayne State University in Detroit. Dr. Cain has previously served in the
capacity of classroom teacher, Curriculum Director, Curriculum Consultant,
Assistant State School Superintendent, State Director of Compensatory
Education, local school superintendent, principal, and the Southeast Regional
Development Vice President for Edison Schools, the nation's largest manager of
public schools. Dr. Cain is active as a community volunteer in Lansing, where
he mentors several students and is past Chairman of the Education Committee of
the local NAACP chapter and the United Negro College Fund. He serves on the
Advisory Board of the College of Education at Wayne State University. He also
served as a past Chairman of the National Dropout Prevention Network, an
organization that he was instrumental in helping to organize.
David A. Kallman J.D.
Attorney at Law
Private Practice
Lansing, MI
Mr. Kallman is a graduate of Schoolcraft Jr. College, and Northwood
University where he earned a BA in Business Administration (1979). He is a
1982 graduate of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Mr. Kallman has been in
private practice his entire legal career since passing the Michigan Bar Exam
in November of 1982. His general practice covers many areas of the law. Mr.
Kallman also has handled many cases involving educational issues in public,
private and home schools. He was the trial lawyer in the case of People v
DeJonge in which the Michigan Supreme Court eventually ruled (in 1993)
that home educators did not have to be certified teachers in order to teach
their children at home. Mr. Kallman has also worked with a number of charter
schools and helped to establish the Noah Webster Academy - a controversial
charter school designed to use distance learning in the home. This charter led
to much litigation and a final ruling that the State of Michigan did not have
to fund the school. He also has much experience with child abuse/neglect
cases, which have included some home school cases over the years. Mr. Kallman
has been married to Beth for 20 years. They have two children: Stephen (19), a
freshman at Wheaton College near Chicago; and Rachel (12), a seventh grader in
their own home school program. He is a coach of the boy's varsity home school
basketball team for Lansing and the Kallmans belong to a local home school
support group.
Paul A. Long
Vice President, Public Policy
Michigan Catholic Conference
Agenda
Resource Materials
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