Caitlin Cornell Announces Campaign for Lansing School Board
Lansing, MI, October 1, 2026 - Caitlin Cornell (Ph.D., Michigan State University), Lansing native and graduate of the Lansing School District, has filed to run for a full-term seat on the Lansing School District Board of Education. Dr. Cornell is running to help rebuild trust, refocus on equity, and prioritize accessibility for Lansing School District students, families, and educators.
Hailing from a long line of civic service and activism (her grandfather was Jim Hough, journalist of the Lansing State Journal’s Onlooker column for 25 years until his retirement in 1988), Dr. Cornell has answered the call from her community to run for the board of the Lansing School District. She says, “I’ve been speaking on behalf of and supporting families and educators in the Lansing School District for a long time. When folks started asking me to run, their confidence in me wasn’t something I took lightly.”
Dr. Cornell’s deep involvement in the district as an alumna, current parent, and spouse of a district educator, plus her expertise in accessibility and disability inclusion in education, she is the Accessibility Coordinator and Advocate for the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State University—shape her hopes for the district. She is calling for more transparency in district data collection and analysis (i.e., sharing digestible results with the public more regularly), clearer and earlier communication with families and educators about district decision-making, more concerted attention to racial equity (e.g., following through on goals set after the district’s 2021 Equity Review), and improved disability inclusive practices across the district from board meetings to school building and classroom practices.
Dr. Cornell has demonstrated support from within the community because of her longtime district service and local civic involvement (e.g., she serves as the director of the Lansing Empowerment Network’s Cradle to Career collaborative). Several prominent K-12 education leaders have joined her campaign advisory board, like Justin Sheehan, formerly of the Lansing Promise, and Dr. Bryan Beverly, a former Lansing School District Board Trustee and Director of Michigan State University’s Office of K-12 Outreach.
Dr. Cornell’s focus on equity has appealed to community organizers like Claretta Duckett-Freeman who ran for Lansing City Council in 2022 and serves as Dr. Cornell’s campaign manager. Dr. Cornell has already been endorsed by both former and current trustees of the Lansing School District Board of Education, like Dr. LaVontè Heard. Board trustee Dr. Heard has wanted to see Dr. Cornell on the board since she first applied to serve in a vacant seat back in May 2025. Dr. Heard says simply, “Dr. Cornell is the most competent for the job. It’s a no-brainer.”
Dr. Caitlin Cornell is a homegrown Lansing candidate and LSD alumna running for a full-term seat on the Lansing School District Board of Education in the November 3, 2026 election. Dr. Cornell’s campaign is focused on trust, transparency, equity, and accessibility. cornell4LSD.org.
Paid for by Caitlin Cornell, Committee to Elect for LSD.
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