Ousted Wayne-Westland school board president to run again

By Kristin Storey / The Detroit News

WESTLAND -- Trish Brown, former president of the Wayne-Westland school board, today is expected to announce her intention to run for the board.

Separately, Brown said she also plans to file a lawsuit in Wayne Circuit Court against a self-proclaimed "Bible Court" for attacking her in the last election campaign.

Brown, 34, of Canton, said the timing of the filings are coincidental and unfortunate because she doesn't want this campaign to be about her sexuality.

When Brown ran for re-election in 1997, a group known as the Post-Industrial Monotheistic Reconstructionist Court of Wayne County filed a decree against her saying it was the "moral obligation" of residents to vote against her because she is gay. The self-appointed, three-member "Bible Court" compared electing Brown to hiring an "alcoholic to be a bus driver or a pedophile to work in a day care center."

Brown said she will file five counts of defamation of character against the group and seek damages in excess of $25,000.

In the June election, Brown will face board President Debra Fowlkes, 41, of Westland and resident Teresa Robbins.

Brown and Fowlkes say they hope the race will remain focused on the issues -- such as the ability to oversee the $108-million bond issue recently approved by voters -- although both say the district's gay policy will be an issue.

Robbins could not be reached for comment.

The district approved a policy protecting gays from harassment while Brown was on the board, but a new council, which included Fowlkes, overturned the policy.

"I stand by my decision and I'm not going to change my mind midstream," said Fowlkes, who has two children at John Glenn High School in the district.

Brown said she was one of seven board members to approve the policy.

She is concerned with what she perceives as a lack of communication between board members and the district's employees, students and the community. Brown, who served on the board from 1993-97, said board members are inaccessible and violate the Open Meetings Act by holding subcommittee meetings without posting times and dates of the meetings.

Fowlkes, who has been on the board for four years, said the district must remain focused on providing the best education for the students and not be distracted by the gay discrimination policy issue. The board has received regular requests to reinstate the policy since it overturned it last year.

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