Schools

Dennis O'Connor Wants to Connect Novi Schools to Area Businesses

January is School Board Recognition Month, a time to acknowledge those who serve the district.

In honor of School Board Recognition Month, Novi Patch is highlighting the seven people who volunteer their time — which is often consumed with hours-long meetings and endless documents — for public education.

We'll post profiles of Novi's school board members one day at a time until the end of January. First up: Dennis O'Connor.

Dennis O’Connor — President, Novi School Board


How long have you been on the school board?
 
  • More than 5 years
  • Elected in November, 2008
  • Re-Elected in November, 2012 (6-year term which ends Dec. 31, 2018)
  • Elected in January, 2013 as a Trustee on the Oakland County School Boards Association (3-year term which ends Dec. 31, 2015)

What is your role?
President. The School Board President ensures the integrity of the Board’s processes.  Other duties include:
  • Serves as the Board’s official spokesperson
  • Represents the Board to outside parties in announcing Board-stated positions
  • In concert with the Superintendent, plans board meeting agendas
  • Chairs Board meetings
  • Conducts and monitors Board meeting deliberations to ensure that
    Board discussion is focused on Board issues
  • Ensures that Board meeting deliberations are fair, open, and thorough,
    but also efficient, timely, orderly and to the point
  • Assures that all Board members are informed about matters of concern
    to the full Board
  • Facilitates and summarizes the evaluation of the Superintendent

Why did you join the school board?
I enjoy public service, and I have a passion for education. I want to make sure that our tax dollars are spent properly – focused on providing the best education possible for our children. I’m a fiscal conservative who wants to make certain that our tax dollars are allocated into the classroom. We have great schools in Novi, but state funding and our enrollment growth is less certain every day. We have limited resources.  We need to constantly evaluate instructional programs and services to make sure they are providing maximum student achievement and results for all Novi students.

Could you tell us about your personal or professional background, relevant to this position?

Occupation:

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Small business owner in Novi for 12 years

  • Consulting Agency:  Develops training, marketing and promotional campaigns and programs for local and national clients
My corporate communications experience includes 15 years at Maritz, Inc. where I served as a Vice President-Training Director in the Detroit Region

I began my career as a Journalist/Community Editor for the West Bloomfield Eccentric in the Observer & Eccentric Newspaper group.

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Current and past community involvement:

  • Vice President, Novi Board of Education (2011 and 2012)
  • Treasurer, Novi Board of Education (2010)
  • Trustee, Novi Educational Foundation (2011-2012)
  • Communication Director, Save Novi Roads Bond Committee (2012)
  • Novi Legislative Representative, Oakland-ISD (2009-2011)
  • Community Education Advisory Council (2005-2010)
  • School Bond Proposal Citizens’ Committee (2007)
  • School Utilization & Redistricting Committee (2006)
  • School Long Range Planning Committee (2004-2005)
  • Novi Athletic Boosters, Vice President and Publicity Director (1998-2004)
  • Novi High School Band Boosters (1998-2004)

Education:

  • MBA: Marketing & Management, Wayne State University, Detroit
  • BA:  Journalism & Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with a Secondary Teacher Certification: University of Michigan Education School
  • Fellow:  National Security Forum (NSF), Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama, 2011
  • Fellow:  Michigan Political Leadership Program (MPLP) Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 2010
  • Award of Merit-School Board Member: Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB), Lansing, MI,  2009
  • Certified Focus Group Moderator:  Burke Institute, Cincinnati, OH, 2006

What about the Novi Community School District makes you proud?
I’m most proud when our teachers, parents, administrators, support-staff and students all work together to produce POSITIVE, measurable results.  The statistics don’t lie:

With a graduating class of 518 last June:

  • $12,524,921 in scholarships were offered to our seniors
  • 28 students reported full-ride scholarship offers
  • 46 students reported more than $100,000 in combined scholarship offers
  • 93% of Novi students attend college
  • Novi is represented across the country (literally coast-to-coast), attending colleges in 20 different states and the District of Columbia
  • Novi students are attending college in four countries (Japan, Canada, Aruba and US)
  • Novi students were admitted to 4 of 8 Ivy League School
  • 3 students were admitted to MIT 
  • 21.5% of seniors are attending MSU (largest percentage of students attending single institution)
  • 8.5% of seniors are attending U-M-Ann Arbor (second largest percentage of students attending single institution)
  • Novi is represented at all 12 of the Michigan Public Universities
  • Novi is represented at 9 Michigan Private Colleges

Here are some examples of where last year’s seniors are attending school this year: 
Duke, Drexel, Harvard, MIT, Notre Dame, Penn State University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, University of Alabama, UCLA, Miami of Ohio, Stanford University, Vanderbilt, Washington University in St. Louis and Washington and Jefferson.

What are your goals for the district?
We need to “connect” our great student talent to careers. Our school district should work with city government on economic development opportunities.  Businesses should want to come to Novi because our schools offer great academic, skilled-trades and internship opportunities.  This “collaborative” model has been established through Medical Careers Exploration, a real-world medical application to science classes at Novi High School, sponsored by Providence Park Hospital.  We need to replicate this type of program in the high-tech and engineering industries, so that more businesses will come to Novi, and so more Novi students will be prepared for 21-century careers.

It’s time to revisit and implement recommendations made in an October, 2010 study, jointly commissioned by the City of Novi and Novi Community Schools, called Assessing Opportunities for Collaborative Growth.  The study revealed a distinct duplication and overlap in “Enrichment” services between the Novi Parks & Recreation and Novi Community Education departments.  This duplication – and waste of taxpayers’ dollars – needs to end immediately.We need more governmental “shared services” – starting with a plan for joint usage of school-district (community) owned property, so Novi residents have additional baseball, soccer, and softball fields, along with other field-sport programs, including cricket and lacrosse.

Anything else you'd like to add?

  • We have great schools! 
  • We have safe and secure schools!
  • We have high-performing schools!
  • We have a great community!
  • We have a great story to tell!

Check back with Patch tomorrow for the next board member profile. 


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