JACKSON, Mich — Jackson Public Schools Trustee Derek Dobies was censured and removed by the District's Board of Education from his position as Board Vice-President Tuesday after allegations of a conflict of interest. But how did a change he made to the new Superintendent's contract go unnoticed?
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR COMMENTS ON THE TRAIN OF EVENTS:
"My motion is that Derek Dobies be removed from his position as Vice-President of the Board and be ineligible for any further office for the remainder of his term." — Cheryl Simonetti, JPS Trustee, 17 June 2025
"I do think that, you know, this is politically motivated, you know, and I think some of the actions were driven by emotion at the meeting for sure," says Dobies.
According to a letter from the Board's Legal Counsel Brendon Beer, Dobies added language to a contract with new Superintendent Jeremy Patterson suggesting representation by the American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA). AFSA is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, where Dobies serves as Chief of Staff for Michigan.
Patterson told the Board Tuesday this was not discussed with him: "This addition was not disclosed during the negotiation process, and was made without transparency and consultation."
But Dobies, who says he was negotiating the contract with Patterson together with Board President Shalanda Hunt, says he made the changes in a shared document and informed Patterson.
"I told the Superintendent that I made edits to the contract — 'go, take a look'. When I received a call the next morning that our legal counsel was in there making some final edits, I made the assumption that the Superintendent and the legal counsel had reviewed my edits," says Dobies.
Hunt says she didn't notice the AFSA addition until Beer pointed it out — after the contract had been ratified by the Board on May 20th .
In his June 2nd letter to Trustees, Beer called Dobies' insertion — and his vote on the contract — a conflict of interest.
Dobies disagrees. He says he's not an officer or employee of the AFSA, and there's no financial benefit to him or his employer.
Hunt says she had to quickly reconvene the Board June 5th to remove the language from the contract. This week, she voted for Dobies' censure and removal — as did the rest of the Board, including Trustee Kesha Hamilton.
"To know that Derek chose to not only put information in the contract that had strong affiliations to his personal employer….and then to know that he voted on that as well — in favor of himself and his employer — although it was by proxy points — it definitely felt unethical, it felt…not criminal, but definitely unethical," says Hamilton.
