East Lansing residents will fill four positions on its seven-member school board in Nov. 5’s General Election.
Four candidates, including three incumbents, are running for three four-year full terms . Two more are seeking a partial term through 2026.
The candidates for the three four-year terms are:
Elizabeth Guerrero Lyons
Guerrero Lyons, 42, board vice president for two years, has served since 2021. She is an assistant professor of medicine at Michigan State University and an associate director of its Leadership in Rural Medicine program. An MSU graduate, she also serves as a faculty adviser for the Latin American and Native American Medical Association and the Rural Health Interest Group.
Guerrero Lyons did not respond to interview requests. The following quotes are from her answers on Vote411.org.
“I prioritize active listening to understand the diverse perspectives of our families, students, teachers and administration. This commitment to open dialogue ensures that all voices are heard and respected, allowing us to make informed decisions that reflect the needs and aspirations of our community,” she said.
If she’s reelected, Guerrero Lyons said she’d prioritize equity and inclusion, mental health and wellness and school safety and security.
“I will continue to promote initiatives that ensure equitable access to resources, programs, and opportunities for all students. We have done an excellent job expanding counseling services, training staff to recognize and address mental health issues and promoting a culture of well-being,” she said.
On safety, she touted the May passage of a $23.5 million safety bond that provided support to bolster security at district facilities.
Chris Martin
Martin, 43, is the incumbent board president and a Texas native. He was first elected to the board in 2019 and served through 2023 before he was appointed to fill a vacancy last year. After graduating from the University of Texas, Martin taught in New York City Public Schools in Harlem for two years and for another two years in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he also coached.
He left teaching to pursue a law degree at the University of Virginia, where he also met his wife. They moved back to Greater Lansing in 2015 and are the parents of a 10-year-old district pupil.
“What was so appealing about serving on a school board is that it touches on things that most intimately affect people's lives in our community. I knew what it was like to go through the 180 days in the classroom and to hear the demands of families and administration. So, I feel like I had a pretty balanced perspective,” he said.
During his tenure, he said he is most proud of his role in helping the district rebuild six elementary schools, negotiating new teacher contracts, implementing a new K-5 reading curriculum and, most recently, leveraging the May passage of a school safety bond to bolster security in district facilities.
“We haven't had any major issues, and I'm pleased by that,” he said of his recent tenure as president. “But there are security questions that we still need to address to make our buildings even more secure.”
Additionally, with COVID now “in the rearview,” he sees a prime opportunity to improve on the district’s academic efforts.
“With good reason, we cut back a lot of the things that schools provided, especially in terms of academic enrichment. My hope is that, now, we can introduce a little more rigor and open up opportunities for kids to engage with academics outside of the core curriculum,” he said.
Felix Thibodeau
Thibodeau, 25, did not respond to interview requests. The following quotes are from his answers on Vote411.org. The University of North Carolina-Wilmington graduate is coming up on his two-year anniversary as a constituent services director for the Michigan House of Representatives.
“I am a young person without children who still recognizes the critical importance of our school district providing students the best opportunities to be prepared for life after school,” he said.
He added that, if elected, he’d like to address what he described as “a disconnect from the community.”
“This disconnect leads to worse practical skills training, reduced student engagement, and weakened teacher, student and guardian rights. When any one of these groups feels disrespected, they lose motivation and involvement,” he said. “I believe it is the job of the school board to ensure that this trifecta remains highly involved, because it improves student outcomes and makes the district desirable for teachers, students, and parents.”
To do so, he suggests “collaborating with local unions and community service organizations” and guiding students in “developing lifelong confidence in their practical skills and abilities.”
Estrella Torrez
Incumbent Estrella Torrez, 47, is a native of Tuscola County in Michigan’s Thumb, a Lansing Schools alumna and an associate professor of arts and humanities at Michigan State University. She was appointed to fill a board vacancy last fall. A University of New Mexico graduate, Torrez returned to the Lansing area 17 years ago. She has been a leader of the Indigenous Youth Empowerment Program for the last 15 years. She is the parent of two former district students.
“I've always had a very vested interest in supporting schools, particularly for historically minoritized communities. I was interested for a number of years to serve on the board, but it just wasn’t the right time. Once my kids were out of the house, things aligned to allow me to join the board and offer the best possible version of myself,” she said.
Torrez said she has spent her first year “learning a whole lot.”
“Something I'm really proud of is the continued efforts by the district and board to maintain transparent, open lines of communication with the community,” she said.
She also touted the May passage of a school safety bond that bolstered facility security measures. Going forward, she said, “I’d like to make sure that we continue to have conversations with the community to hear other ways in which we might be able to help our students and families feel safer.”
If Torrez earns another term, she hopes to continue to expand on those gains, while also adding social and mental health services and programs.
Another primary driver for her is social justice and equity, she added.
“It's such an important thing for me that we include youth voices, because young people oftentimes are not invited to the conversation. It's important for me to make sure that we continue to have students in those spaces that actually have a very real impact on their day-to-day life as a student,” she said.
Partial term through 2026, vote for 1:
Gary Holbrook
Holbrook, 48, is an incumbent who was appointed to fill a vacancy left by Amanda Cormier in Augusat 2023. A consultant for Enterprisemarketdesk, he is the parent of one former and one current district pupil and the spouse of a district employee. He served for four years on the Island City Academy school board in Eaton Rapids.
He said he became more active in district governance out of concern for student safety after a staff member reported seeing a gun fall out of a pupil’s backpack at a January 2023 basketball game.
“I started suddenly paying a lot of attention because my entire family is in the hands of the district,” Holbrook said. “Over the course of a few days, I simmered with that, and I became frustrated because it felt like it wasn't being taken seriously.” So he submitted his name for the vacancy.
In his first year, Holbrook supported financing new school entrances. He also cited a recently established student-led behavioral threat analysis and management team as a “monumental shift” for the district’s safety initiatives.
“They'll interview the student who’s involved to try to get a sense of whether that student is a potential threat, or whether they’re just having a bad day and maybe said something they shouldn't have,” he explained.
Holbrook cited his professional background as giving him credibility in his effort to address the district’s “funding issues.”
“I spent 15 years working for a company that services Michigan schools’ insurance needs, so I have a pretty thorough background in terms of some of the political and funding issues schools face,” he said.
With COVID funding initiatives led by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer expiring, he said he’d like to help the district find ways to diversify its funding.
Abbie Tykocki
Tykocki, 45, is a Grandville, Michigan, native, Michigan State University graduate and first-time candidate. She’s lived in East Lansing since 2018 and is the parent of one district pupil. She recently became operations manager at Riverwalk Theatre after five years in various roles with the MSU Department of Theatre. She also serves on the East Lansing Housing Commission, is vice chair of the Lansing Regional Smart Zone and a crisis advocate for MSU’s Center for Survivors.
“I've been asked to run for the past few elections and have said no because it just didn't feel like the right time. I had some conversations with current school board members last spring, which convinced me that now was the time. It felt like the right time to answer that call, but I’ve always been very civically engaged,” Tykocki said.
If elected, Tykocki hopes to bolster equity and inclusion, promote competitive salaries to retain teachers and work to reconnect East Lansing schools with the broader community.
“I think my experiences and education has prepared me to promote initiatives that ensure all students, regardless of their background, have access to resources and support and opportunities,” she said. “Also, in a year where all our unions are up for contract negotiations and as we’re onboarding a new financial director, we're going to need to find ways to advocate for competitive salaries to attract and retain high quality educators.”
Tykocki said she decided to pursue a partial term to “dip my toes in to see if I’m able to be effective” in the role.
“Our public schools need strong advocates who will commit to doing the work, and I believe in bridging the gap between the schools and our neighborhoods through a community first model to bolster school safety,” she said.
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