The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Four seek two spots on board
May 8 election ballot to include 1 incumbent and 3 newcomers
By Edward Freundl, Heritage Newspapers
PUBLISHED: February 22, 2007
Four candidates are vying for two seats on the Manchester Board of Education on May 8.
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Incumbent Lyndon Uphaus will be joined by Chris Fegan, Tara Lamirand and Dara Psarouthakis.
Lyndon Uphaus
Uphaus was first elected to the board in 2000 to fill three years of an unexpired term. He was then re-elected to a full four-year term. Uphaus has held the office of treasurer the entire time.
He is self-employed as a farmer, and has been deeply involved in several agricultural organizations.
Uphaus currently serves as chairman of the GreenStone Farm Credit Services board of directors, the Corn Marketing Board of Michigan and the Rowes Corners Cemetery Association.
He also sits on the boards of Farm Produce Insurance and Great Lakes Ethanol.
Uphaus has deep roots in the community, and his family has been intimately involved in education.
"My family has farmed here for over 125 years," he said. "My dad served on the school board in the 1960s, and my mother and three sisters were teachers."
Uphaus and his wife, Ann, have two daughters, Sarah and Katy, both students at Manchester High School.
Uphaus said he wanted to retain his seat on the school board to keep working on challenges facing the district.
"When I was first elected, we passed bond issue to build new schools, and I would like to continue seeing that through," he said.
"We're in really good shape facility-wise, but funding is going to be the biggest issue for all schools and I would like to be a part of that."
Uphaus said the school-funding mechanism needs to be addressed by state legislators, and the public needs to get involved in the process.
"Operating funding is going to be the biggest issue," he said. "People need to talk to their legislators and convince them that Proposal A will have to be changed."
Chris Fegan
Fegan is very active in the community as the owner of Village Gifts and Village Dry Cleaners. She also serves as president of the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce and is a trustee on the Downtown Development Authority.
Fegan is past president of the Klager Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization and Manchester Merchants' Association and a former board member of Manchester Co-Op Preschool.
She and her husband, Todd, have lived in Manchester for nine years, and have two daughters, 10-year-old Taylor and 8-year-old Rachel.
Fegan said she attends school board meetings to try to keep up to date on current issues, and has given a lot of thought to seeking election to the board.
"What better way to be involved with my girls' education?" she said. "It's important to be involved in the community any way you can, and now is a good time for me to do it."
Fegan and her husband are in the process of selling their downtown businesses so that she can return to her career as a hospital radiation therapist.
Fegan said there are a lot of "hot-button issues" facing the board right now.
"Safety of the kids is my No. 1 concern," she said. "I'd just like to help participate in the decision-making."
Tara Lamirand
Lamirand holds a master's degree in organizational leadership and administration from Concordia University, and she works with pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
She and her husband, Scott, have lived in the area for two years. They have two children, ages 1 and 4.
"My greatest qualification is the desire to do the work and having children who will be in the system for the next 12 to 15 years," Lamirand said.
"I'm a parent, first and foremost, and I think my interest and dedication and the time needed will be well spent."
Lamirand said it was "frustrating" to sit in on a board meeting and voice her opinion, but not be in a position to make changes.
"Hearing about the cuts and the money issues is so heartbreaking," she said.
"I want to see that the best answer is found –– there are only so many ways to split up a dollar."
Lamirand said how the district chooses to meet those funding challenges will have long-range effects.
"As a community, we can't just keep cutting and cutting; all of those things are important to somebody," she said.
"One of the reasons we moved to Manchester (was because it) had a good preschool and school system. To cut that would be to shoot ourselves in the foot."
Dara Psarouthakis
Like Fegan, Psarouthakis sees serving on the school board as an excellent way to be involved in her own children's education.
"It would be a good opportunity for me to be an asset," she said. "I am committed to the Manchester school system for the next 18 years and I'm also committed to the education of the children of the community."
Psarouthakis and her husband, Peter, have lived in the district for seven years. They have a son in second grade and a daughter entering kindergarten in the fall.
She said her educational and professional background gives her a solid foundation that could be an asset to the school board.
She holds a doctorate in psychology, and is a licensed psychologist and licensed school psychologist.
Psarouthakis has been employed by the Ingham County Family Court system for three years, working with families and children of a variety of ages who are struggling with abuse and neglect issues.
"I understand how families work," she said.
Psarouthakis said she is concerned about how possible budget cuts would affect the foundation of education, and agreed with Uphaus that the community needs to be more involved in the school funding process.
"We have to get behind the school board to have our voices heard by the state Legislature and the governor," she said.
Her husband was born and raised in Ann Arbor and Psarouthakis grew up near Columbus, Ohio, in a small community similar to Manchester.
"One of the reasons we moved here was to be involved in the community," she said.
"I wanted to be able to offer our kids something similar to what I had."
Edward Freundl is a reporter for Heritage Newspapers. He can be reached at 428-8173 or efreundl@heritage.com.
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