June 29,2020 Your Source for Livonia Happenings
Absentee Ballots are on the way. Yard signs are not close behind.
11,400 absentee ballots left city hall at the end of last week and were safely delivered to the post office. This was the largest single mailing of ballots to date.

Susan Nash says just how proud she is of the team effort at city hall. "In the midst of a pandemic they worked very hard to accomplish this for Livonia voters. We do not out source any of this, preparing, labeling, scanning and stuffing is all done by hand in our office.

"Please remember to sign your ballot and return it to the clerks office by 8:00pm on Election Day. Ballots may be returned by mail or dropped off at city hall. There is a secure red box outside that ballots may be placed in."

Close behind the mailing of the ballots we find yard signs popping up around our hometown. But as the typewriter always reminds voters, "I never met a yard sign that voted." This phrase comes from 1965 when Geraldine Joyner ran for school board with just a few dozen yard signs and her opponent had hundreds nailed to every phone pole in the city, back when that was legal. Who won? Why Geraldine Joyner saying "I never met a sign that voted."
The key race to watch in Livonia will be the campaign for State Representative pitting Penny Crider, Martha Ptashnik and Regina Gargus for the right to face off with incumbent Laurie Pohutsky. With most observers calling for a close race between Ptashnik supported by the Livonia municipal establishment over the past two decades with assistance from the Lansing Republican insider group and Crider, with the outlier support of those who rallied around Senator Patrick Colbeck and supported his brand of conservatism.

The question remains who will the primary bring out to the polls? If the Lansing Republican insiders promote Ptashnik with mailings, etc she could pull it off otherwise the grassroots support built up over the years rallying around Colbeck/Crider just might push Crider over the top.

Regardless, Ptashnick continues to rake up endorsements. This week the Michigan Republican Assembly, a pro-life, pro-gun, pro-for-profit charter schools, pro marriage between a man-woman came out adding their support.

Both Crider and Ptashnik have the same agenda, support the same issues, come from the same philosophical background, at least the organizations supporting Ptashnik would have you draw that conclusion. It remains if this political outsider can have one image in Livonia, another in Lansing and how that will play with the Livonia voters.

We will see on August 4th.
Dr. Conway Jeffries expresses sorrow over senseless killing of George Floyd
The events of the past few weeks have filled me with great sorrow over the senseless killing of George Floyd and of the terrible deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and too many other men, women and children. We have once again seen our country’s deep divide over race, justice and inequality come to light.
 
The leadership team at Schoolcraft has used this time to both step back in humility to listen and learn about the treatment of people of color in our country. We hear, see and acknowledge the pain and frustration with experiences in systemic racism and the indignities of indifference.
 
As members of the Schoolcraft College family, we should lean into these current events, build upon our actions to elevate the difficult, uncomfortable but important conversation – with actionable steps – regarding race, privilege, violence and conciliation in America. We need to broaden the conversations at Schoolcraft, but we will look to the wisdom of our minority brothers and sisters.
 
I understand that actions speak louder than words and would like to share a few items that we developed prior to recent events. Earlier this year, we formed a diversity, equity and inclusion task force that has curated town halls and organized training for students and staff on the topics of diversity and inclusion. We’ve become more attuned to cultural celebrations in the community, and we have made a concerted effort to reach out to a wider and more diverse public audience. We are also working closely with human resources to have staff who reflect our diverse student body, among other actions.
We are hearing from students who feel alone and want to talk. With our campus largely closed due to COVID-19, we are all missing the benefits of face-to-face interactions. I encourage you to take advantage of online opportunities to dialogue with your classmates and faculty. If you feel the need to speak with a student support specialist/counselor, call 734-462-4486. They can provide immediate and short-term assistance, as well as referrals for ongoing support and other related services. If you are aware of a fellow student who needs support, you can request that a Schoolcraft support specialist/counselor reach out to them. Use the online reporting tool SCaware to make this request.
 
There have been many eulogies and speeches made. These are, in my opinion, all first steps to healing. We still need real change, so we are doing everything in our power to see that Schoolcraft is in order. We never want to see anything happen here that even approximates the horrors we see on TV. All of the things that political figures are proposing, we have already done. We want you to feel safe and be safe. We are doing our best to support a positive, civil environment. The social context in which we all exist is changing and not always for the better. We, nonetheless, must continue our effort to make positive change. Social change is a process, not an event. We must work at it every day.
Polehanki Joins the fight to waive federal mandates for standardized tests
Sen.  Dayna Polehanki  (D-Livonia) and Rep.  Lori Stone  (D-Warren) introduced a concurrent resolution to urge the U.S. Department of Education to waive the federal mandate for standardized tests. Last week, Governor Brian Kemp (R) requested a similar waiver for the state of Georgia.
 
“Standardized tests are already grueling and time consuming. After a long hiatus of in-person instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents are yearning for their kids to have meaningful face time with their teachers and as much precious in-person instructional time as possible in order to recapture lost learning and move forward to new learning,” Sen. Polehanki said. 
 
Rep. Stone added, “Our schools are already facing unprecedented challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Placing the burden of standardized testing on the shoulders of our students, who have missed so much time in the classroom is simply unfair. Now more than ever, it is imperative to support our students and teachers to have as much instructional time as possible with as few disruptions as possible. We already recognize students missed a good chunk of the standards being assessed due to COVID-19; we don’t need test scores to demonstrate it. Students have enough stress and anxiety without being assessed on materials that they didn’t receive the necessary instruction on.”
 
Social distancing in schools may require mitigation strategies like staggered scheduling and significantly reduced capacity in testing rooms and computer labs. This will double, or can even quadruple, the amount of time needed to administer state or federally mandated standardized tests 1 . Instead, schools need flexibility to serve the needs of students that a strict and onerous testing regimen does not allow for. 
 
The M-STEP is a federally mandated summative test that captures student learning at one point in time; it does nothing to drive instruction and monitor progress in real time like formative (or benchmark) testing would do. And, unfortunately, connectivity issues and academic integrity issues make standardized testing from home currently untenable. 
 
Using test data for accountability purposes during the massive disruption that this pandemic has caused is unfair to students and educators. Finally, in a time of budget uncertainty, the millions of tax dollars spent on standardized tests could be re-prioritized to support the unique needs of students in this unprecedented time.
August 4

Proposition O
Wayne County Operating Millage Renewal
Endorsed by FridayMusings
Prosition P
Wayne County Parks Millage Renewal
Endorsed by FridayMusings


Wayne County Circuit Court
You may vote for two in the August primary with the top 4 advancing to November with two being elected to the Wayne County Circuit Court

Simone, Frank (endorsed by FridayMusings)

United States Senate
Gary Peters (D-I)

John James (R)

United States House of Representatives
Haley Stevens (D-I)
Endorsed by:
Michigan Education Association

Frank Acosta (R)

Kerry Bentivolio (R)
Endorsed by
Combat Veterans For Congress


Whitney Williams (R)
Endorsed by:

Eric Esshaki (R)

Michigan House of Representatives

Laurie Pohutsky (D-I)
Endorsed by:
UAW
Sierra Club
Clean Water Action
SEIU
Emily's List
UniteHere! Local 24
Iron Workers Local Union No. 25 
 Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan
Michigan Council of Carpenters & Millwrights
Congresswoman Haley Stevens
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43
Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union
Michigan Nurses Association


Endorsed by:
Former State Senator Patrick Colbeck
Former State Representative Jerry Vorva
Former State Representative Kurt Heise
Former State Representative Jeff Noble
George Dimopoulos, Senate Coney Island
Lynn Mills, Right-to-life advocate
Canton Township Supervisor Pat Williams
Roger Little, owner of Shooters Service
Former State Senator Mike Kowall
Right to Life of Michigan

Martha Ptashnik (R)
Endorsed by:
Primary endorsement by FridayMusings
City Council President Kathleen McIntyre
City Councilwoman Cathy White
Former State Representative John Walsh
Former City Councilman Brian Meakin
Former City Councilman Jim McCann
Former State Representative John Pastor
Former State Senator Mike Kowall
Wayne County Commissioner Terry Marecki
Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP)
Michigan Freedom Network
Small Biz PAC
Right to Life of Michigan
Michigan Republican Assembly


Wayne County Commissioner
Terry Marecki (R-I)
Nothville Supervisor Bob Nix

Nancy Darga (D)
Endorsed by
Former County Commissioner Lyn Bankes
AFSCME Council 25
UAW
Endorsements start coming in for
Wayne County Commissioner
As endorsements come available for the August primary and November general elections FridayMusings will share them with our readers.

We have reached out to incumbent Commissioner Terry Marecki and will be providing her list of endorsements in a future issue.

Today, Musings shares the UAW endorsement of Democratic challenger Nancy Darga running against Marecki.

Thank you to the brothers and sisters of UAW Region 1A for your endorsement of my campaign! I appreciate your early support and promise to work to ensure the rights of working families are protected in Wayne County.
Music From the Heart
Do you plan to attend any of the Music From the Heart summer concerts?
Yes
No
You're Invited to a Road Discussion
Outdoor art is coming to Livonia. How cool.
Be a part of creating a community project that promotes human connection, an appreciation of diversity and a realization that we all have something in common. Be one of the first to place your yarn and watch how our community is weaved together.

This event takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-8 p.m. next to our Summer Fun Series and Music From the Heart so you can enjoy music while making public art.

UNITY, an interactive public art project, was conceived as a response to the divisiveness and negative rhetoric in American politics. It was created to raise consciousness about the labels we give ourselves and others and explore how those labels both support and limit building interconnected, interesting communities. UNITY is a larger-than-life structure that helps us celebrate our uniqueness and strengthens our ties to each other. The project consists of 32 posts, each with identifiers such as, “I’m a parent; I speak English as a second language; I identify as LGBTQ,” etc. Participants tie colorful yarn to posts that reflect their identities. Their yarn intertwines with others’ to create a web of interconnectedness. In the end, we see that we are all connected by something, and it's our diversity that builds a strong and vibrant community.