Meet the West Bloomfield School Board Candidates: CharRhonda Moye

The Nov. 8 election is drawing closer every day, but what do you know about those names on the ballot?

Patch will interview candidates for the West Bloomfield School District's Board of Education during the ramp-up to the election, bringing you the stories behind the names and the issues they think are important for West Bloomfield schools.

For the West Bloomfield Board of Education, six candidates are running for two open spots: incumbent Nelson Hersh, and challengers Julie Beaty, Karen M. Faett, Carol Finkelstein, CharRhonda Moye and John Reed. The Board of Education oversees and sets school policy, hires and works in partnership with the district superintendent and oversees the district's budget. Board members are elected to six-year terms.

The Oakland County League of Women Voters will hold a at 7 p.m. Wednesday at for those running for the West Bloomfield Board of Education.

CharRhonda Moye

Children in district: Three sons — a 2008 graduate of WBHS, a 11th grader at WBHS and a seventh grader at . Moye has also served as PTO President at .

Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in business from Indiana University, formerly worked on National Labor Relations Board, currently self-employed working as an educational consultant

Favorite class in the district: Tiffany Emert's fourth and fifth grade classes at

Much has been said at the administrative level regarding last week's , an event hosted by the West Bloomfield School District to bring together the community at WBHS.

CharRhonda Moye liked what she saw there — the district's Board of Education working to interact with parents and other common entities such as township police, fire and government units.

Moye, a first-time candidate for the board, sees herself as a future bridge between the board and parents. She said that if elected to the board this year, she would work to develop a tangible connection between herself, the district's teachers union and staff.

"I'd like us to be more visible," Moye said. "I don't feel as though parents feel that their voices are being heard by decision-makers, and we need another vehicle in order to do that."

Having cited transportation and bussing as a current concern of district parents, Moye said that she learned a lot about the district during its series of forums, having been given the opportunity as part of the building and enrollment committee of those forums to walk the halls of every school and to do first-hand research on schools of choice.

She added that her previous work on the U.S. National Labor Relations Board will help in future contract negotiations with teachers, claiming that when teachers worked from Aug. 2010-March 2011 without a contract, that process took "far too long" and delayed the district parents' "healing process."

"We'll bounce back, because we're West Bloomfield," she said.