Meet Monique Bryant, Candidate for Detroit School Board

Monique Bryant is a passionate and committed candidate running for an at-large seat on the Detroit Public Schools Community District Board of Education in Michigan. With deep roots in the community and a strong history of advocating for students and parents, Bryant’s journey in education started long before her first run for office in 2022. 

Bryant is running for school board as a GoodParty.org Certified candidate, meaning she is committed to running a truly independent, people-powered, and anti-corruption campaign. She will appear on the ballot on November 5, 2024 during the general election.

Monique Bryant: A Dedicated Advocate for Detroit’s Public Schools

Since 2016, Monique Bryant has been a dedicated parent in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, actively participating in parent-teacher organizations and school advisory councils. Her leadership roles include serving as the PTA President at the Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men from 2017 to 2019, and as a community partner on the Cass Tech School Advisory Council from 2018 to 2020. 

Bryant is also the founder and current executive director of the non-profit organization The Triangle Society. 

“I never thought of myself as a person that would go into politics,” Bryant said. “I never saw myself creating a nonprofit. But what led me to the nonprofit part? During my volunteering at the school, I discovered there were instruments that were needed, along with things for field trips, and that was my opportunity to jump in, along with my co-founder, to form the nonprofit.”

Bryant first ran for school board in 2022. In that election, Bryant came seventh in an 18-person race for four school board seats. She said she decided to run for local office in hopes of broadening her impact to the entire school district.

“I want to really change the educational experience for the students in Detroit, not just at my alma mater or where my kids attend school,” Bryant said. “That is what prompted me to say, ‘Hey, let me attempt to get on the board.’ I understand the concerns. I understand the issues. I'm a problem solver, and as a non-profit executive, I’ve honed my skills in networking.”

After the 2022 school board election, Bryant still saw a need for change in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

“After that first election, I still didn't see the necessary changes that needed to happen to be more inclusive of what everyone would like to see. So I said, ‘Okay, I'm going to run again, but how do I do it more effectively?’” Bryant said.

As both a second-time and GoodParty.org Certified candidate, Bryant said she now feels better prepared to run an effective school board campaign and move on to serve her community. 

“That experience [of running for office] really prepared me to receive the information that I've gotten from GoodParty.org, because I'd been in it before,” Bryant said. “It was me learning it and then trying to apply it. Now I have the tool to correct those mistakes or to do something different from what I did before.”

According to the latest update from Chalkbeat Detroit, there are 22 candidates running for the Detroit Public Schools Community District Board of Education. These candidates will compete on November 5 for three open seats.

Advocating for Equitable, High-Quality Education

With the lessons learned from her first campaign in tow, Bryant is moving toward the 2024 elections with a focus on improving the education Detroit public schools give students. She believes that every student deserves a high-quality education, powered by the full amount of local, state, and federal funding received by the district.

“We need equitable funding across the landscape of these 108 schools. Because you have one school that has more parent involvement, but this other school doesn't, that doesn't mean that those students should go unheard or they should not be provided for,” Bryant said. “Those are the cornerstone points of my platform: making sure that we have accountability and transparency from our board members, and making sure that we are engaging the communities in those schools. 

“That consists of having a fully-chartered parent-teacher organization or parent-teacher-student organization, and having a school advisory council where they can figure out what it is they want to advocate for and then come collectively before the board, or board members can go out to the school and meet those individuals.”

Bryant said it is important for the school board to steward education funding effectively.

“Every parent wants a great education, and our community members want kids to have a great education. It is public money, so as a school board, we should be good stewards of our resources,” she said. “We should be thoughtful of the needs of every student who is enrolled in our schools. We certainly should be more thoughtful about how we engage and meet people where they are.”

Bryant emphasized the importance of parents feeling heard by their school district’s leaders.

“As a parent, we want the best education that our students can get,” Bryant said. “My son started out in a private school. Then we had a downturn in the economy. At that point in time, I didn't feel confident in the Detroit public school system, so from there, I had him in a charter school. What I found was there weren't any real differences in terms of education, because funding is what it is. But the true difference for me, and I think for a lot of other parents that I talk to, is when you feel like you're being heard and your concerns are being validated. I could talk to the principal directly, and we parents met, and we had action. I don't feel that we have that here in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.”

Bryant said she would like to see the level of parental and community involvement in Detroit’s public schools increase.

“That’s the piece that’s missing: the community. That is my platform’s bread and butter. What I stand on is the community,” Bryant said. “When the community supports a school, the school will thrive, our students will learn, and we can help support our parents who really and truly need additional resources.”

Setting a Higher Standard for Detroit’s School Board

The Detroit Public Schools Community District school board has seven members to represent 108 schools. With over 52,000 students enrolled in the district, Bryant said the school board needs to set a higher standard — both for itself and for the students and parents it represents.

“If we want students to model good citizenship, become volunteers, care about their neighborhoods, and care about their community as a whole, we individuals have to do better, and that starts with the seven people that are on the Detroit Community School District school board. Model what you want to have seen,” Bryant said.

Bryant said she would like to see school board members visit all of the district’s schools and address students’ practical needs. 

Transportation and homelessness are two issues she said could be addressed more effectively by Detroit schools. Added support from social workers could help students who might otherwise fall through the cracks. Education standards also need to be addressed, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Let’s educate as many students as we can, because it’s not satisfactory that students are three to four years behind in reading levels and that they’re graduating with a 1.9, or that their mental state is all over the place because they’re stressed out. These are true issues that, in my opinion, were happening well before Covid. Covid just highlighted what was really going on,” Bryant said.

Once some of these issues are addressed, the district can begin to gain back families’ trust and grow in enrollment.

“It’s very disheartening to see that in seven years, we really haven’t had any growth, and we’ve had three instances of elections in my immediate grasp. I’ve got to run because I’m not seeing the change that’s desperately needed to change the educational experience for all kids,” she said.

Overall, Bryant said she wants to be a voice for all students and families in the Detroit public school district.

“I’m asking Detroit voters, ‘I want to be that voice for you. I want to empower your voice. But I need you to help me get there, so I need your vote, I need you to volunteer, and I need you to support me in terms of a small monetary contribution,’” Bryant said. “I was probably a little afraid before to ask for these things, but with GoodParty.org, I feel that power. My own voice has power now. I hope that resonates with the voters, and I hope that resonates with the current teachers and current staff.”

Bryant said she also hopes to empower more people to step up and become advocates for their community.

“If my campaign is about empowering everyone, I've got to learn how to speak and empower each group — not only with their vote, but with volunteering and giving them confidence that if you want to ever run for office, and it's an independent or non-partisan office, I can show you the blueprint that I've been building,” Bryant said.

Running for Office with Support from GoodParty.org

GoodParty.org has played a significant role in empowering Bryant’s campaign, providing her with the tools and training necessary to run a more effective and strategic campaign. GoodParty.org’s suite of campaign tools includes AI content generators, virtual trainings, voter data, SMS/MMS texting support, and more.

“The online trainings have been very helpful, and they've been small enough where you can ask questions and really do a deep dive within the 45 minutes,” Bryant said. “I have used all the resources on the platform, and it really helped me in creating my plan, going step by step, and really allowed me to think about what it was I was trying to articulate.”

Bryant said her campaign has benefitted from using GoodParty.org’s AI content generators, which have allowed her to prepare social media posts and keep her campaign materials updated.

“[GoodParty.org’s tools] showed me some of the key roles of the volunteers that I need to support the campaign, to not try to do everything yourself,” Bryant said. “That has been truly, truly helpful, because as a volunteer, I don't want to waste my time. Give me an assignment and let me get to it. By creating all of these things, when I bring someone in to do social media, all I need them to do is post and reply, but everything else is done. Now they have a tool that I can show them, ‘Hey, this is how we do this.’”

Using GoodParty.org’s campaign tools has also helped Bryant’s campaign meet voters where they are. While she has become deeply familiar with many of the community’s top issues through her non-profit work, not all voters are equally informed.

“I feel more confident about my platform. I'm not unsure. I've always been that person to do the research. I know what the issues are. In our community, the issues are housing, transportation, and school, so that's a no-brainer to raise those issues. But until people know what you're going to do for them, which is to empower your voice collectively so that we can advocate for the funding that's needed, for the policies that are needed, and for the inclusion and the engagement that we're asking to have, we've not realized that,” Bryant said.

“I'm able to meet [voters] where they are, and that's because of the tools. It helps me hone in on my specific target, and that would be the students, the parents, and the community. Everyone understands the same points I'm making, yet I've got to speak to them on their level, and that's what the tools help you do.”

Finally, Bryant said that using GoodParty.org’s resources will help her campaign fill in any gaps as she moves closer to election day.

“Although you always need volunteers, you're never probably going to have enough volunteers to do what you need to do. These tools will allow me to fill in the gap, with the automated texting and mailers. Having a core volunteer group that I can put out into the neighborhoods and in those key areas, we can knock on doors and be effective in who we're engaging,” Bryant said.

Overall, Bryant said GoodParty.org’s tools have given her campaign an advantage that she didn’t have the first time she ran for school board.

“Before, it felt like I needed six months to really, truly get going. But with these tools, I'm ahead of the game,” she said.

How You Can Get Involved

Monique Bryant’s dedication to her community and commitment to improving Detroit’s public schools make her a candidate worth watching in the upcoming election on November 5, 2024.

Want to learn more about Bryant’s campaign for the Detroit Public Schools Community District Board of Education?

Find more information about Bryant’s campaign and find ways to volunteer by visiting her campaign website.

You can also book a meeting with GoodParty.org to learn more about our free tools for independent, non-partisan, and third-party candidates.