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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Board of Education has appointed Jordoon Eatman to fill former board member Christian Grant’s vacant seat.
Eatman, the vice president of engagement and inclusion for Experience Grand Rapids, was elected to the board by unanimous vote during a special meeting on Monday, Dec. 19. He will serve the remaining two years of Grant’s term, which expires on December 31, 2024.
Eatman was one of three finalist candidates the board considered for the vacancy, along with Travis Stephens, a success coach at Grand Rapids Community College, and Shanda Vaughn, a beneficiary rights officer at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services.
A total of 19 people have applied for the vacant position, the district reports.
The board held open interviews for the finalists during a nearly three-hour meeting Monday night. After conducting individual interviews with the three candidates, the board spent more than 40 minutes discussing the strengths and advantages of each candidate.
Each board member noted that all three finalists would make excellent additions to the board and that the final decision was a difficult choice. But in the end, Eatman’s experience working for the city of Grand Rapids and his work with local neighborhoods was a factor that influenced the board’s final decision.
Prior to joining Experience Grand Rapids in 2022, Eatman worked for the City of Grand Rapids in the Executive Office and the Office of Capital and Engagement, where he worked to promote diversity in the community, workforce and providers for employees and residents, according to Experience Grand Rapids website.
He also led planning for the Grand Rapids Neighborhood Summit, an annual event that brings together city residents and stakeholders to strategize on how to strengthen neighborhoods and community belonging. Eatman has run this event for six of the eight years since its inception, he said.
Board member Jen Schottke said Eatman’s ties to the Grand Rapids community and neighborhood associations will be key when it comes to the board’s ongoing facilities master planning process, which could lead to major restructuring in the coming years .
“As I think about our efforts to continue to develop our sophistication in community engagement, I’ve seen a lot of strikes in the work he’s done in neighborhoods, which is where we need to go to build trust and consensus around decisions that we’re going to take in the next couple of years,” Schottke said during Monday’s board discussion.
Eatman’s main goal will be to elevate the voices of residents during his time as a board member, he told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press at the end of Monday’s meeting.
“The voice of the residents is extremely important to this work, so making sure that’s honored, that it’s heard and the engagement comes from that, that’s super important,” he said.
The board held 30-minute interviews with each of the three finalists on Monday. Each candidate answered 10 set questions from the board related to academic success, community involvement, pressing issues and more.
When asked what he thought was the most pressing issue facing Grand Rapids Public Schools, Eatman said the district needs to address GRPS three schools that were flagged last month as some of the lowest-performing schools in the state.
The Michigan Department of Education requires Alger Middle School, Campus Elementary and Ottawa Hills High School to enter into agreements with the state to improve student academic achievement.
CONNECTED: Michigan has flagged 112 low-scoring schools for intensive intervention
Eatman said the district needs to take a deeper look at where those three schools fall short of the district’s six pillars of strategic planning. He said he believes two of those pillars can be applied to help the three schools: meeting the holistic needs of students and developing a culture of trust and collaboration.
“Engagement with staff, academics and parents, in my personal opinion, is necessary to understand the needs of the academics and administration of this school for potential blind spots that we may not be aware of,” he said.
Board President Reynard Ross said he was impressed with Eatman’s responses related to academic achievement. When asked what contributes to academic achievement, Eatman said he believes instructors should offer a variety of teaching and learning styles to meet the needs of all students. Ross said Eatman’s response showed his ability to solve problems.
“I think he really hit the nail on the head,” Ross said. “I just think there was really good critical thinking and a broad perspective that showed the ability to focus on solutions and problem solving.”
Eatman’s first official meeting with the board will be Monday, January 9.
Board member John Mathias said he wishes the board had considered five finalist candidates, instead of three, in its latest round of deliberations for the open seat.
“I’m a little disappointed we didn’t have more candidates,” he said. “We should have had at least five.”
In several recent board meetings, a handful of community members said during public comment that they wished the board had considered appointing one of the top-voted candidates who ran to join the board in the Nov. 8 general election .
Jose Rodriguez, who will join the school board in January after winning the most votes of all 11 candidates running for election, shared the same concern at the start of Monday’s meeting during public comment.
“If I were to apply for this vacancy as a 29-year-old with no job and no fancy title or resume, which is the position I’ve been in throughout my campaign, I probably wouldn’t have been selected for an interview,” he said. “But our community was given a choice, and they elected me to the school board as the highest number of votes.”
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