To the Journal editor:

On Sept. 21, you published a letter from Robert Anderson, endorsing several nominees for the MAPS Board of Education. As a counter-point to that, I would like to offer the following information about the candidacy of another community member for this very same election to MAPS Board of Education.

Nathan Joyal was born and raised in Marquette. He attended MAPS schools for his K-12 education. He is the father of 7 children. His oldest started at NMU this Fall, and his youngest is still in Sandy Knoll. As a parent, he has experience with the majority of the schools in the district.

Nathan Joyal also has a very strong educational background. He has degrees in Biomedical Engineering from MTU and Computer Science from NMU. He also has professional certification as a Paralegal, Legal Investigator, and Mediator from Adam State University. This December, he is finishing a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies, which focuses on using information from one field to solve problems in another field.

Professionally, he has experience in business administration. His largest company had an operating budget over $1,000,000 and was subject to complex state and federal regulations. More recently, he has worked as an Adjunct Instructor teaching at NMU while working on his Master’s degree. This experience has given him insight into how institutional policies affect not only students but also educators. This experience translates to help identify how our policies at MAPS can be crafted to best meet the needs of both students and educators.

Finally, I would like to say that this is intended to be a non-partisan election. In my humble opinion, the polarized and divisive politics of contemporary America have no place in our classrooms. As a candidate, Nathan Joyal has not accepted any donations, endorsements, or sponsorship from anyone with any sort of political agenda, nor anyone with a connection to any political party.

I hope you will consider voting for Nathan Joyal for one of the open seats on the MAPS Board of Education.

Alex Jones

Marquette