Flint, MI–The Westwood Heights Schools Board of Education has appointed Kimberly Turner to fill its vacant seat.
Turner was sworn into office at a Board meeting on Jan. 4, 2023. She was one of two candidates interviewed by the Board in December 2022 for the vacant seat, which will be up for election in November 2024.
“I look forward to working in this position,” Turner told Flint Beat. “And I look forward to hopefully be a part of creating a good, solid base for the young people and the students of the district, and that they’ll be able to move on further in their chosen profession and careers by having a good education.”
Turner, currently a janitor, was formerly a paraprofessional at Flint’s Durant-Tuuri-Mott Elementary School and a substitute teacher mostly at charter schools in Genesee County. Before working in education, she was a radiation therapist for 20 years.
Her predecessor, Brenda Battle-Jordan, did not run for re-election in November, and Westwood Heights then began seeking applications to fill her seat. Battle-Jordan was the longest serving member on the Board.
During the Jan. 4 meeting, the Board also voted for its officers, electing Ahmad Walker as president, Lester Fykes as vice president, Jessie Cloman Sr. as secretary and Jennifer Johnson as treasurer.
According to Jamal Bransford, public relations and marketing coordinator for the district, Westwood Heights has just under 1,800 students with close to 80% of those scholars being residents of Flint in the 2022 to 2023 academic year.