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Police want your help to identify a woman who was found wandering around the woods in Texas Township. Also: Find out more about the six people being interviewed this week for KPS’ superintendent position. And Michigan has dozens of “zombie” laws that could be repealed.
News You Need To Know
Police want help IDing woman found in Al Sabo
Michigan State Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a woman who was found in the Al Sabo Land Preserve last week. The “living Jane Doe” was discovered by a hiker around 6pm Thursday in the preserve behind Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Texas Township. She has disabilities and police were unable to communicate with her for unknown reasons.
The woman is described as Black, in her 20s, about 5 feet 2 inches, and 155 pounds. She was carrying a garbage bag full of clothes when she was found. She was taken to Bronson Hospital for medical care and evaluation. Anyone with information is asked to call the state police post in Paw Paw at 269-657-5551 or Kalamazoo Silent Observer at 269-343-2100. [MLive]
Get to know KPS superintendent candidates
The Kalamazoo Public Schools Board of Education will spend time this week interviewing six candidates for its new superintendent. The candidates were picked from 37 applications after a review last week. The most well known around here is Johnny Edwards, the assistant superintendent of operations for Portage Public Schools. He was also previously the principal of Kalamazoo’s Loy Norrix High School. One other candidate comes from within Michigan: Dr. Ty Weeks is a Detroit native and runs Dearborn Heights School District No. 7. He is also the only current superintendent in the running.
The four other candidates come from as close as Chicago and as far away as Texas. Dr. Stephanie Jones is the chief officer for the Office of Diverse Learner Supports and Services for Chicago Public Schools and has a background in special education. Dr. Darrin Slade is the deputy superintendent of the Hazelwood Public School District in Missouri and has 16 years’ experience as a school principal. Dr. Thomas D. Rogers is assistant superintendent for IZone 2.0/Priority Schools for the district office of Shelby County Schools in Tennessee and has been both a teacher and principal. Dr. Marcey Sorenson is the chief academic officer for Fort Worth Independent School District in Texas. She was also a teacher and principal in Chicago for 20 years. [WWMT]
Climax-Scotts to ask voters for school improvement bond
Climax-Scotts Community Schools will ask voters to approve a $16.2 million bond to fund facility improvements in the upcoming May election. The proposal is an extension of a bond passed in 2018 so it wouldn’t actually raise taxes. The current bond proposal runs through 2039. If approved, this new proposal would keep the tax in effect until 2053.
The district is eyeing several major projects that would only be possible with the extra funding. The district wants to build two new additions to its elementary school for new classrooms, a daycare, and a multipurpose space. The bonds would also pay for a variety of improvements at the district’s junior/senior high school, including new exterior lighting and electrical upgrades. The election is May 2. [MLive]
Lawmakers open to targeting “zombie” laws
Seducing an unmarried woman is technically against the law in Michigan. So is being drunk on a train. Those are just two among dozens of laws on the books in Michigan that either aren’t enforced anymore or are legally unenforceable due to court decisions. They’re called “zombie laws” because, like the state’s 1931 abortion ban, they can pop back up due to political or legal changes.
Last week, the Michigan Senate voted to overturn another 1931 law – this one prohibiting an unmarried couple from living together. But Bridge Michigan has uncovered many more unusual or outdated laws that lawmakers could undo if they felt like cleaning up the state’s penal code. Case in point is a rule that makes it a felony to “seduce and debauch any unmarried woman.” Some laws just don’t make sense anymore, such as a rule that people on “party line” phones must give up the line in the case of an emergency. Party line phone haven’t existed for decades. Legislative Democrats have said they are open to repealing these and other zombie laws. [Bridge Michigan]
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