School Board Election: Sharon Shah
“I feel like I may be more on the outside of being heard. I’m just seeing the need for unity and collaboration so that everybody feels like they’re a piece of the puzzle.”
Sharon Shah, candidate, Lowell Area Schools Board of Education
By Justin Tiemeyer
Contributing Writer
10/22/2024
Sharon Shah wishes to be a voice for conservative Christians who she believes get a bad rap
Sharon Shah is from Caledonia, but she has been in Lowell for a while. “I have a heart for everything Lowell,” Shah said.
Shah’s daughter is currently a senior at Lowell High School, so what goes on in the Lowell Area Schools (LAS) district has been on her mind for years. After an attempt at city council in 2023, Shah has set her sights on the LAS board of education this election season.
Shah wishes to run for office for the sake of “similar minded” people who “get a bad rap for sharing concerns.” When pressed to be more specific, Shah noted that she is a conservative Christian, and she believes current board members are dismissive and defensive toward the concerns of Shah and her peers.
It should be noted that LAS school board positions are considered nonpartisan, but it is questionable whether Shah would be the first or only conservative, Christian, or conservative Christian on the board.
“I feel like I may be more on the outside of being heard,” Shah said. “I’m just seeing the need for unity and collaboration so that everybody feels like they’re a piece of the puzzle.”
As the mother of a child with an Individualized Education Program (IEP), Shah feels drawn to special education advocacy. She also believes that LAS needs to continue to raise educational standards, which Shah described as “improving.”
Shah believes that there are books in LAS libraries that do not belong there. They are “more for a public library.” “I’m not here to just act like an agent that wants to just disrupt a system,” Shah said.
Shah reviewed all of the school’s existing guardrails for preventing inappropriate materials from getting to children, namely the work of educated professional librarians, the school’s policy that allows parents to limit which books their children may access, and the school’s review process for books deemed inappropriate by a concerned parent or community member, and she did not see any problems. “I want to find a better solution for our libraries,” Shah said.
In reference to a counselor who made it clear that her office is an LGBTQ+ safe space, Shah shared concern that this might be an example of gatekeeping. “I don’t want to act like I know everything about what that flag represents,” Shah said, referring to the rainbow pride flag, “but it is hard to understand that it represents everybody.”
Shah believes that the school should have a banner on the outside declaring, “You belong here, and you are free to be who you are.”
“I think those words themselves are inclusive,” Shah said.
As for the recent updates to Title IX wording intending to broaden protection against sex discrimination in federally funded education, Shah said she wants to be “very cautious about adding bathrooms to this policy.” She believes children are already protected, so the changes are unnecessary.
“Because we have some Moms for Liberty parents in our district, we can hold it off,” Shah said. “My advice would be to continue to table it and watch it play out before we make changes for provisions that are already being provided for students.”
Moms for Liberty is the organization responsible for slowing down the rollout of the new Title IX wording after they convinced a Kansas federal judge to issue an injunction against the federal civil rights law. It should be noted that Moms for Liberty has been labeled an extremist, anti-government organization with roots in COVID-19 anti-masking campaigns according to civil rights watchdog Southern Poverty Law Center.
In reference to the enduring impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Lowell Area Schools, Shah would like to see children spend more time connecting with one another in-person. “I just believe that it’s healthy to disconnect from a screen, which we’re so dependent on,” Shah said. “It’s almost a lack of these important skills that children need to be functional leaders in society.”
Shah believes the schools need to enforce strong rules against cell phone usage on school grounds. From her own experience as the parent of a high schooler, she believes the current school year started with strict enforcement, but it has already started to lighten up.
“I posted a campaign post about Homecoming, and I posted the wrong team,” Shah said. “My daughter said, ‘I’ve already been contacted by 20 people about this.’ And I was like, ‘It’s only been posted for two minutes.’ I just think social issues are so dividing our community, and I just think we need to come back.”
Sharon Shah is one of five candidates running for four seats on the Lowell Area Schools Board of Education. The official ballot for the Tuesday, November 5, 2024 election also lists Parker Liu, but Liu suspended his campaign on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, citing family obligations. Of the remaining five, there are three incumbents, and Shah is one of two challengers. In-person voting can be done on the Tuesday of the election or prior during Michigan’s early voting period, and many residents have already received their absentee ballots.
