Three Ann Arbor residents announce their candidacy for November school board election

The cutoff date for candidates to file for the Nov. 8 elections is Aug. 16. There are two spots on the school board that will be contested in the November election, with trustees Andy Thomas and Simone Lightfoot both up for re-election.

Iqbal lists his occupation as an advisor to infrastructure-related assets and transactions and is a graduate of the University of Michigan. He has a masters degree in public policy from Harvard University and studied at the London School of Economics for one year during his time at U-M.

Iqbal said he’s running for school board in order to help Ann Arbor children have the same educational opportunities that he had as a student in the Detroit Public Schools and at Woodhaven High School.

“I really look forward to using my finance expertise and public-private collaboration track record to assist our schools to be better than ever,” he said in a statement.

Iqbal lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and two children, who attend Clague Middle School and Huron High School. He lists himself as a member of Rotary Club of Ann Arbor, American Arab Chamber of Commerce and a board member of the Pakistan Association of America and Asian Pacific Islander American Vote’s Michigan chapters.

Leonard is a 22-year-old Ann Arbor native and graduate of the University of Michigan. In addition to attending Ann Arbor schools, he has two family members who work in the district — his mother teaches at Lakewood Elementary School and his brother teaches at Burns Park Elementary School.

Leonard said he plans to address the district’s achievement gap if he’s elected. He said he was involved in a mentorship program at Mitchell Elementary School while studying at U-M and said he was “outraged at the lack of resources available to students.”

“I will focus on students who are achieving below the proficiency level in core subjects and discuss programs and resources to help these kids,” he said.

Murphy is the owner of a small automotive supplier in the area and has two children in the Ann Arbor schools.

He says he's looking forward to applying his business knowledge to the school system.

For more information about Murphy, visit his website here.

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.