Dearborn board elects 2026 officers, chair to represent district on Henry Ford College board

The Dearborn City School District Board of Education elected its slate of officers for 2026 during the Jan. 12 organizational meeting.

At the start of the meeting Moderator (Speaker 1) opened nominations for president. A trustee who identified themselves in the transcript as Speaker 2 nominated a trustee recorded in the transcript as "trustee Ojemme" to serve as president and as chairperson on the Henry Ford College Board of Trustees. The board conducted a roll-call vote and the nomination carried after recorded responses that included affirmative votes from Trustee Eljami and Trustee Bezey and negative votes from Trustee D'Ambrosio and Trustee Pelichkov; the chair announced, "Motion carries." The transcript shows a congratulatory remark recorded as "Congratulations, trustee Ojani." The transcript contains inconsistent spellings for this nominee; the article uses the name as it appears in the meeting record.

The board then filled the vice president post. A trustee nominated the candidate recorded in the transcript as "Trustee Beze"; the roll call, as recorded, returned unanimous affirmative responses for that nomination and the moderator thanked the new vice president.

For secretary, the transcript shows a nomination of Amber Zarr; the roll-call vote recorded in the transcript included both "Yes" and "No" responses from trustees and the motion was announced as carried. The treasurer nomination (recorded in the transcript as "trustee Bazin" and later referenced as "Shashi Bazi") was also approved by roll call, with affirmative responses recorded from trustees on the roll call and the chair congratulating the newly elected treasurer.

Why it matters: These are the board officers who will lead the Dearborn City School District for the year and represent the district on external bodies such as the Henry Ford College Board of Trustees.

What’s next: The organizational portion of the meeting concluded and the board took a 10-minute recess before convening the general meeting.

Quotes drawn from the meeting record include the nominator saying, "I nominate trustee Ojemme to serve as president of the p 12 board of education and chairperson of the Henry Ford Board College of Trustees for the 2026 calendar year" (as recorded by Speaker 2) and the moderator stating, "Motion carries."