Oak Park School Board Fails to Fill Vacancy After Rejecting Only Applicant
(Crystal A. Proxmire, April 1, 2026)
Oak Park, MI – The Oak Park School Board continues to be down one member after failing to fill a vacancy Tuesday evening. The vacancy came about early in the month, when Vice President Xondra Clark announced her resignation just four days after Superintendent Angel Abdulahad retired in the wake of a lawsuit alleging financial improprieties, human resource issues, and whistleblower retaliation.
The board announced that they would accept applications for those interested in filling the vacancy. Only one resident that qualified applied – Kevin Keys.
Keys, an Oak Park alumni, ran for the school board in 2024. There were three seats available in that election, and Keys came in fourth. Keys has been a regular attendee of school board meetings, often commenting with concerns and making videos for social media with his remarks. Keys works as a teacher, and currently serves on the City of Oak Park’s Juneteenth Commission and Arts and Cultural Diversity Commission.
The vote to appoint Keys was 3-3, and without a majority the appointment was not approved. President Paige Mattison, Treasuer Heather Perryman-Tanks, and Trustee Andrea Rogers voted no.
Trustee Dawn Corporan was one of the yes votes. “I would unequivocally love for you to be part of this board based on the abilities you do have,” she said.
For President Mattison, trust was one of the issues. Keys had contacted members of the media about problems within the district, including the allegations against former Superintendent Abdulahad and low test scores in the district. President Mattison said she felt signaled out by the media. She blamed Keys for bringing “more difficulty to a tough situation. It was a lot.” She also said he was “doing it for your own political gain.”
Trustee Rogers said that “The board should act as one. And I guess with current views and opinions, it would be a little difficult to act as one.”
After the vote, Keys spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. “I just want to say, directed to the community… you hear what just happened. A lot of it was not about the kids. The kids was not the priority. Every problem that was stated, everything was about their personal issues with me.”
Mattison added later in the meeting, “I just want to say that my decision was not personal. My questions were more so geared around how would you act if things didn’t go your way… It was based on a constant pattern of conflict and disruption that will continue to impact the effectiveness of this board.”
In Michigan, a public school board has 30 calendar days to fill a vacancy by appointment, according to the Revised School Code and MCL 168.311. If the board fails to fill the position within this time-frame, the authority to fill the vacancy shifts to the local Intermediate School District (ISD) board.
