Commentary: A Genesee County property sale could have a dire impact on Flint residents
Oct20

Commentary: A Genesee County property sale could have a dire impact on Flint residents

By Patrick Hayes Editor’s note: East Village Magazine and Flintside.com are happy to cross-publish this commentary written by local writer and Flint resident Patrick Hayes.   Flint and its surrounding areas claim a long and colorful history of government corruption that has often resulted in the collective subversion of the needs of the city’s people, especially its most vulnerable or voiceless people, in service to the...

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Pierce School  to close in 2024-25, Neithercut in 2025-26 as Flint school board moves toward “right-sizing”
Oct20

Pierce School to close in 2024-25, Neithercut in 2025-26 as Flint school board moves toward “right-sizing”

By Harold C. Ford At a special meeting  Oct. 5, the Flint Board of Education (FBOE) voted to close two elementary schools in the next two years. The FBOE voted 6-1 to close Pierce Elementary to students on Flint’s near east side at 1101 W. Vernon Dr. in the 2024-25 school year. Votes for closing Pierce came from: Michael Clack, president; Joyce Ellis-McNeal, vice president; Claudia Perkins, secretary; Laura MacIntyre, assistant...

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Education Beat:  Mixed results on post-pandemic assessment data for area schools
Sep30

Education Beat:  Mixed results on post-pandemic assessment data for area schools

By Harold C. Ford Area student performance in the first post-pandemic year, 2022-2023, offers a mixture of good and bad news, according to data provided by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), with Flint students showing a small gain in one area and losses in two others. In all three cases, Flint area student performances were far below state percentages, consistent with the numbers before the pandemic. Data collected during...

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Commentary: What lies ahead for Flint’s colleges? — Centennials, conflict, change, and challenges
Sep29

Commentary: What lies ahead for Flint’s colleges? — Centennials, conflict, change, and challenges

By Paul Rozycki The University of Michigan-Flint has a new chancellor; Mott Community College’s president is applying for a position in Kentucky; Kettering University has a new vice president, is looking to a “transformational decade”; and, since 2005, the Flint Community Schools have had eight superintendents and are facing dramatically declining enrollment while dealing with empty and crumbling school buildings. It may be time for...

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Taliah Abdullah, new Gloria Coles Flint Public Library director:  “Community is at the heart of who I am”
Sep28

Taliah Abdullah, new Gloria Coles Flint Public Library director: “Community is at the heart of who I am”

By Canisha Bell and Jan Worth-Nelson “I believe in community – community is at the heart of who I am as an individual, what I believe in and why I became a librarian.” That’s how Taliah Abdullah, executive director of the Gloria Coles Flint Public Library since July 24, described her commitments and values in a wide-ranging recent interview with East Village Magazine. Abdullah, finishing her second month as the library’s top...

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UM – Flint enrollment up for first time in a decade:  reaches 6,130
Sep13

UM – Flint enrollment up for first time in a decade: reaches 6,130

News from University of Michigan – Flint Director of Marketing and Communications Robb King: “For the first time in nearly a decade, the University of Michigan-Flint has recorded an increase in total fall enrollment as 6,130 students are enrolled at the downtown campus, reflecting a gain of 154 students (3%) from one year ago. The increase in total enrollment is the first since fall 2014. “The numbers come from...

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