Flint, MI— Former Assistant Superintendent of Flint Community Schools Kevelin Jones will step up as the district’s new superintendent.
The Flint Board of Education elected him during a board meeting Nov. 17. The vote passed 5-0 with Treasurer Laura MacIntyre and Secretary Joyce Ellis-McNeal absent.
“Since I’ve been on the board, Mr. Jones has just been a huge help for getting me acclimated And I think he’s just been an amazing ambassador for our school district. So, I’m excited about you continuing to be in this capacity and just moving our district forward,” Assistant Secretary /Treasurer Adrian Walker said.
The decision came following former Superintendent Anita Steward’s resignation Nov. 12. Steward and the board had been at odds over “transparency” issues for months.
In early September, Steward went on Family and Medical Leave. Since then, Jones served as interim superintendent.
On Sept. 8, Steward filed a lawsuit in the 7th Judicial Circuit Court, alleging board members, individually and collectively, prevented her from performing her duties as superintendent by overstepping their authority and “thumbing their noses” at board bylaws. Litigation is still ongoing.
“Mr. Jones has been instrumental in keeping us alive. I don’t know how we could have made it without him. I think it would be downright rude and disrespectful to disregard the service that he has rendered to this district in our time of need,” Board President Carol McIntosh said.
Jones was appointed to assistant superintendent in June 2020 after serving as principal of Doyle-Ryder Elementary for the last three years.
Jones attended Great Lakes University where he studied music and performing arts. He then returned to school for his master’s degree in education leadership at Madonna University.
He began his teaching career as an assistant teacher at Linden Charter Academy and worked his way up to becoming dean of middle school where he served as assistant principal. He also served as principal of Momentum Academy in Hazel Park. Under his leadership, students’ English language arts proficiency scores rose from 10% to 34% in 2017, according to The Detroit Free Press.
During his time at Doyle-Ryder Elementary Jones worked to “rejuvenate” the culture at the school, he said.
“As we look ahead to the future of Flint Schools, I am thrilled to work with a variety of community partners, including the Mott Foundation of what is to come,” Jones said. “We are working with our Community Relations Committee, and our Advisory Committee on Flint-based partners, community leaders, and advisors to create a plan for a new Flint Community Schools. The next chapter of Flint Community Schools is being written by this board and our school stakeholders.”
Jones will serve out the remainder of Steward’s contract until summer of 2022.
The entire Flint community school board needs to be recalled.They are all unfamiliar with their responsibilities and duties.
I agree with you Terry! Why do they even need a superintendent?? What does he do?? What does the sorry and useless School BORED do?? We still got too many closed and very jacked up schools that need to be immediately demolished and they continue to be public eyesores, nuisances, and embarrassments in out neighborhoods! When will they ever get demoed??? Washington School still sits a burned down and ugly mess on my east side and NOTHING is being done to get rid of it. It has been over a MONTH since it was burned down. I am SICK of seeing this and so are the people on the east side. TEAR IT DOWN NOW and all the other very destroyed schools! They need people who want to take action and all they do it sit on their fat butts all day and complain! Just eliminate all of them! What “good” have they done for us??? NONE!