There are nine school committee members with five representing districts and four at-large. Stephen won in a race against a popular, long-time politician in the city. He will be serving alongside another Green, Ben Meikeljohn.
Portland is a city of about 65,000 located about two hours north of Boston. Recent immigration from Somalia, Sudan, Bosnia, Cambodia, Ex-Soviet countries, and other countries have dramatically changed the student population. Thirty percent of the students at Portland High School are students of color and/or English language learners.
Other issues facing Portland Public Schools include consolidation of underenrolled elementary schools, conversion of the two high schools into autonmous small schools, and the continued difficulty of operating with increased budgetary stresses.
Aside from these more structural and budgetary issues, Stephen plans to be a voice for activists wanting to ban military recruitment in public schools based on its discrimination policies. He also wants to continue building momentum in Maine to "Just Say No" to the federal government's No Child Left Behind policy and the ever-increasing and dangerous standardized testing movement. The other Green on the committee, Ben, is very active in pushing environmental changes, such as eliminating pesticides in schools and pushing for green construction on all new bildings and renovations. I will work with him and offer full support in these areas as well.
Stephen works with the Center for Collaborative Education coaching schools that are going through small school conversions. CCE's main mission is to improve access to education and increase opportunities for full societal participation for students and communities of color.
At home, Stephen lives with his partner, Gustavo and their two dogs, Cody and Mika.
Stephen Spring
Maine
School Committee, District 2
E-mail:
Place: 1
2 running for 1 seat
1724 votes, 54.71%
Scott Klein
Michigan
Hamtramck City Council
E-mail:
Scott Klein was elected to the Hamtramck, Michigan City council in an at-large election on November 4, 2003. His term will expire on January 1, 2006. Previously, Scott Klein had served as the elected secretary to the Hamtramck City Charter Revision Commission charged with redrafting the city charter.
Hamtramck is a city of 23,000 persons completelysurrounded by the city of Detroit. The city is roughly two miles square. 26 different languages are spoken in the public schools. The four main immigrant groups represented in the city are Polish, Bengali, Arabic, and Bosnian. In the 15 years since the visit of Pope John Paul II to the city, mosques have come to out number Catholic churches in the city.
Scott Klein managed the campaign of five candidates for the city council in the 2003 election. All five candidates won election on a solid platform that stresses voting rights and protection of immigrants regardless of their status, creation of more green space, a public/private partnership with local social services agencies to direct the resources of the city toward helping to fund food banks and after-school and day care programs, the creation of a low-income clinic, responsible development, and infrastructure repair.
Scott Klein is a well-known performance poet. In 2002, he was the chief strategist for the Detroit Poetry Slam team that won the national poetry slam competition. Also in 2002, he was named Wayne County (Detroit) performer of the year by the Wayne County Arts Commission. Prior to his entry into local politics, he toured the United States extensively. He has been featured performer at venues such as the Nuyorican Cafe in New York City, Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco, the Red Room in Dallas, and the Cantab in Boston. His work has been featured on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, and he has been the subject of numerous articles and news reports.
Scott Klein is available for speaking engagements, fund-raising efforts, and performances.
LAVENDER GREENS IN ELECTED OFFICE
Stephen Spring was elected on November 4, 2003 to Portland Maine's School Committee to serve a 3-year term representing District 2.
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springdistrict2@hotmail.com
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Susan has long been engaged in civil rights work. She currently works as the lawyer in the student legal services department at the University of Southern Maine and has a private practice in immigration law and also does some family
advocacy cases. Susan Hopkins was endorsed by the Maine Lavender Greens and the Portland Chapter of the Maine Green Independent Party. There are now four Green Party members on the school board -- her success in November added a fourth as well as having two Lavender Green officeholders on the same governing body. Susan self-identifies as a bisexual woman and registered earlier this year with the Maine Green Independent Party.
Elected
Place: 1
3 running for 1 seat
6231 votes, 38.1%
Susan Hopkins
Portland, Maine
School Committee, At-Large
E-mail:
(November, 2005)
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Matt Keefauver
Endorsed by the NLGC - March 26, 2006 -
Elected April 4, 2006 !
Matt was elected to the Cortez, Colorado City Council on April 4, 2006.
Affordable housing, avoiding sprawl and encouraging more Cortez residents to recycle are Matt Keefauver's priorities.
Keefauver, 36, a teacher at Cortez Middle School, would also like to see more bike lanes in the city and make sure residents shop in Cortez, circulating their money locally.
The two-year Cortez resident spent several years on various boards while living in Salida, his previous home.
He organized the Chaffee County AIDS Walk in 1997, which Keefauver said is still going strong as the third-largest such event in Colorado.
