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Leslie Wilkins
From Ballotpedia
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Leslie Wilkins is an at-large member of the Ann Arbor Board of Education in Michigan. She assumed office on January 1, 2025. Her current term ends on December 31, 2028.
Wilkins ran for election for an at-large seat of the Ann Arbor Board of Education in Michigan. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Wilkins completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Leslie Wilkins graduated from Blissfield High School. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1994 and a graduate degree from the Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business in 2005. Her career experience includes working as a Financial Analyst for the Municipal Ratings division of Standard & Poor's. Wilkins has been affiliated with Ann Arbor PTO Council, iZosh, and Ann Arbor Civic Theatre.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Ann Arbor Public Schools, Michigan, elections (2024)
General election
General election for Ann Arbor Board of Education At-large (3 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for Ann Arbor Board of Education At-large on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Leslie Wilkins (Nonpartisan)  | 22.4 | 39,986 |
| ✔ |  | Don Wilkerson (Nonpartisan) | 19.9 | 35,592 |
| ✔ | Glynda Wilks (Nonpartisan) | 19.8 | 35,298 | |
| Megan Kanous (Nonpartisan) | 18.1 | 32,413 | ||
| Ernesto Querijero (Nonpartisan) | 13.8 | 24,714 | ||
| Eric Sturgis (Nonpartisan) | 5.6 | 9,938 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 758 | ||
| Total votes: 178,699 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Woodrow Williams II (Nonpartisan)
Endorsements
Wilkins received the following endorsements.
- Pittsfield Township Supervisor candidate Trish Reilly (D)
- Washtenaw County, Mich., Democratic Party
- Huron Valley, Mich., Labor Federation
- Michigan AFL-CIO
- Michigan Education Association
- Ann Arbor Education Association
2022
See also: Ann Arbor Public Schools, Michigan, elections (2022)
General election
General election for Ann Arbor Board of Education At-large (4 seats)
The following candidates ran in the general election for Ann Arbor Board of Education At-large on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Susan Baskett (Nonpartisan) | 13.6 | 27,891 |
| ✔ | Jacinda Townsend Gides (Nonpartisan) | 12.7 | 26,126 | |
| ✔ |  | Rima Mohammad (Nonpartisan) | 12.4 | 25,493 |
| ✔ | Susan Schmidt (Nonpartisan) | 10.0 | 20,456 | |
| Jeremy Lapham (Nonpartisan) | 9.9 | 20,323 | ||
| Jamila James (Nonpartisan) | 9.9 | 20,215 | ||
| Lena Kauffman (Nonpartisan) | 5.7 | 11,709 | ||
 | Kai Cortina (Nonpartisan) | 5.2 | 10,707 | |
| Andrew Spencer (Nonpartisan) | 5.2 | 10,564 | ||
| Leslie Wilkins (Nonpartisan) | 4.8 | 9,915 | |
| Alex Wood (Nonpartisan) | 4.5 | 9,211 | ||
| Barry Schumer (Nonpartisan) | 3.4 | 6,888 | ||
| Paulette Metoyer (Nonpartisan) | 2.4 | 4,999 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 467 | ||
| Total votes: 204,964 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Heather Eckner (Nonpartisan)
Campaign themes
2024
Leslie Wilkins completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wilkins' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I’m a qualified, calm, compassionate, and thoughtful long-term Ann Arbor Public Schools parent. Serving as a Trustee has been on my heart for a long time. This is not a knee-jerk reaction, but something I’ve been looking forward to doing once my kids were more self-sufficient. In the meantime I volunteered with my kids’ Title I school PTOs, serving as Vice President of their Middle School PTO board for three years. Most recently I’ve served on the PTO Council and their Equity Committee. I loved all that work – advocating for students and teachers – and now I want to use my business sense, analytical skills, team-player attitude, and life experience to have a positive impact district-wide.
I have bachelor degrees in music and psychology from the University of Michigan, along with an MBA, and I’ve been a marketing and sales executive at the same company for 16 years. Prior to that I was a financial analyst for a municipal ratings firm. Along with my work with school PTOs, I’ve served on other nonprofit boards for the past 11 years. So volunteer and work experiences have made me very comfortable within the boardroom environment, and I’ve had lots of success working as part of a team. I ask hard questions, and then work collaboratively to make well-informed decisions.
- I want to make sure that ALL students, ALL families, and ALL communities are considered and consulted when important policy decisions are made. And I want to see the Board spend its valuable time on the issues that affect students district-wide, versus the more specific issues that just happen to have the loudest supporters. Many of our students – especially those from historically excluded backgrounds and those with special needs – are not being well served in the district. I vow to actively listen to their voices, and bring their issues, needs, and suggestions to the board.
- AAPS needs to prioritize rebuilding trust with the community, especially around the budget. I am committed to do this time-consuming, detailed work with honesty and compassion. I will ask the hard questions to make sure the district is actually listening to what families are telling them. And I will “show my work” so the community knows how decisions are made, and so I am kept accountable for those decisions.
- One big issue, that was only made worse with the budget crisis, is decreasing teacher morale. Nothing affects the happiness and success of students more than their teachers. But our teachers and staff aren’t getting the support they need to ensure that every student is thriving. Even before the pandemic, they were being asked to do more and more work, while not getting the step increases they were promised. I’m committed to helping the district find ways to retain the amazing teachers we have, and keep them from burning out or going elsewhere. Also, our top-notch educators need to be trusted to do their job in ways they know are best for students. And they need a more structured way to communicate their needs to the board.
I’m personally passionate about the issues that impact our children. I’m committed to fighting systemic racism, protecting and promoting public education, and making schools inclusive for our LGBTQ students.
I believe honesty, integrity, and compassion are most important, along with a dedication to social responsibility.
Everyone (except my children) remarks on how calm I am. Especially with the dynamics of our current school board, I think bringing a calm leadership to the boardroom will make all of us more successful.
I see my core responsibility as a Board of Education Trustee is keeping the success and safety of every student in mind as we make decisions regarding policy, budget, and the Superintendent.
I could never pick just one! But a recent favorite is A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. It's a lovely compact book about a monk and a robot navigating a futuristic planet and developing an unlikely friendship. There is SO MUCH to this book, and I've recommended it to everyone I know, and gifted it quite a bit. One neat thing is that the monk uses they/them pronouns, and reading or hearing (via audiobook) those pronouns for an entire book made me feel more comfortable using those pronouns in my daily life.
I believe the primary job of a school board member is keeping the success and safety of every student in mind as the board makes decisions regarding policy, budget, and the Superintendent.
My constituents will be the Ann Arbor Public Schools students, families, and educators.
The way to support these needs is to listen. The district needs to demonstrate that they are actually listening to what students, families, and educators are telling them, in order to rebuild trust with the community. I think AAPS needs an intentional, structured method of seeking out issues, dealing with them, and then following up. I will make sure families from historically disenfranchised communities especially have a voice in policy decisions. To be clear, this doesn’t mean I’m trying to speak on behalf of BIPOC people; instead I plan to actively listen to their voices, and bring their issues, opinions, and suggestions to the board.
I will make sure families from historically disenfranchised communities especially have a voice in policy decisions. To be clear, this doesn’t mean I’m trying to speak on behalf of BIPOC people; instead I plan to actively listen to their voices, and bring their issues, opinions, and suggestions to the board.
I'd like to see our schools promote the trades and other careers that don't necessarily require a four-year college degree.
One policy I'd like to change is the one restricting board members from visiting schools. All the teachers I talk to want board members to actually see what their school environment is like. Right now there's a policy in place so that school board members can only visit schools if accompanied by a member of the administration. And in reality, members of the administration are too busy to accompany board members on these visits.
Washtenaw County Democratic Party; AAEA / MEA (teachers' union); Huron Valley Area Labor Federation; Trish Reilly, Park Commissioner and Pittsfield Township Supervisor Candidate; Alyshia Dyer, Democratic Nominee for Washtenaw County Sheriff; County Commissioner Andy LaBarre
The ideal learning environment is one where each student feels valued and supported. A big part of this is representation– especially for Black, Indigenous, and other students of color, students in the LGBTQ community, and students with special needs. Students need to see these aspects of themselves celebrated and reflected in curriculum materials and in classroom and extracurricular activities.
I supported the district's decisions to prioritize the health of the whole community, which in turn protected the physical and mental health of our students and staff. I wasn't as worried about a student getting COVID as I was about a student spreading COVID to a grandparent and feeling guilty about it forever. I was glad to see AAPS set the high bar of erring on the side of caution, rather than simply following what other districts were doing.
I was also incredibly impressed with the food distribution during the pandemic. From the first day of school closures, there was a well-executed, safe plan in place to get meals to the students who needed them. And that was extended to providing meals to those students’ families as well!
I was also incredibly impressed with the food distribution during the pandemic. From the first day of school closures, there was a well-executed, safe plan in place to get meals to the students who needed them. And that was extended to providing meals to those students’ families as well!
Over the last 15 years, I’ve already built a lot of relationships with parents because of our kids’ activities that we had in common: sports, music, student leadership programs, etc. I also built relationships with my fellow PTO members. I think the best way to build new relationships and maintain current ones is to listen to one another, and support one another with integrity and compassion.
I believe there should be complete transparency in all decisions made at the school board level, including financial decisions. And in the interest of transparency, government officials should “show their work” so the stakeholders know how decisions are made, and so they are kept accountable for those decisions.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Other survey responses
Ballotpedia identified the following surveys, interviews, and questionnaires Wilkins completed for other organizations. If you are aware of a link that should be added, email us.
2022
Leslie Wilkins did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Ann Arbor Board of Education At-large |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 1, 2024
