By Jennifer Pignolet, jpignolet@detroitnews.com
In 1995, when Glenn Maleyko was a new substitute teacher in heavily Middle Eastern-populated Dearborn Public Schools, a coworker took him on a field trip for a cultural lesson at a local mosque.
The mosque’s imam welcomed him, explaining aspects of Muslim culture, including fasting during Ramadan and eating Halal meals. From there, Maleyko started visiting students’ homes on his lunch break, bringing a translator and spending hours in the homes of mostly immigrant families, some living in significant poverty but valuing the chance for their children to have better lives.
“They’re good people, and they just wanted success for their children,” Maleyko said.
Those early years of teaching were informative visits for the White, Canadian-American hockey player who bucked his family’s trend of becoming lawyers and went into teaching. He developed a passion for supporting English language learners, but also formed connections with those different from himself.
“It was the best thing that happened to me,” Maleyko said.
After 30 years in Dearborn, including 11 as the district’s superintendent, Maleyko is now Michigan’s superintendent of public instruction. His official duties started Dec. 8, although Maleyko had been working for weeks on the transition.
It was a good thing he did, because his first State Board of Education meeting, which the state superintendent chairs, was Dec. 9. At the meeting, the board’s two conservative members raised doubt about vaccine safety to the state’s chief medical executive, prompting Maleyko to interject multiple times to defend state government employees.
In an interview a few days later, Maleyko remained undaunted, unafraid of politics and determined to work with everyone, even board members who voted against his appointment.
It might be the hockey player in him — he once lost a tooth in a game, put it right back in and kept going.
But Maleyko said it’s his commitment to “students first” — a mantra so strong he carries around a collapsible banner with the phrase on it — that keeps his focus on what matters. He even whipped out the sign during his interviews with the state board.
“I’m going to be the person who I am,” Maleyko said. “During the interviews, I told them, ‘Look, if you hire me, you’re going to get someone collaborative that puts students first. And I told them: ‘Look, whenever I come for a decision, I’m going to remind you that despite the politics or whatever we’re dealing with, I’m going to bring you back to that — students first.’”
It’s with students in mind, he said, he announced his first policy initiative — to require training for teachers in the science of reading, a way of teaching reading that aligns with how the brain learns to read, one letter at a time.
“That will be a push that we want to make,” he said.
‘150% with everything I do’
Maleyko, 52, was born in Canada to his American mother and Canadian father, giving him dual citizenship. His dad was a hockey goalie, and Maleyko thought he wanted to be one, too, until he, as a young kid, saw his dad get his arm broken. He decided another position might be better.
He still suffered his share of injuries playing hockey, he said, aside from the excised tooth — “the dentist was able to fix it” — including his own broken wrist.
But Maleyko continued to play, serving as a captain and learning the leadership skills of teamwork and collaboration that are foundational to his career today.
“I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for sports and leadership,” the new superintendent said, adding he’s also “very competitive.”
Maleyko stepped away from playing hockey for a time, focusing more on coaching and mentoring students and players, but got back on the ice at his wife JoAnne’s encouragement. He taught his two kids, now in college, how to skate starting when they were 3. He still plays in a men’s league and said he takes it just as seriously as he did playing in championship games as a kid. The other players have noticed, he said.
“They know I’m forechecking” — the term for trying to force a turnover in the other team’s zone — “I’m right on them, I’m not going to let the puck escape,” Maleyko said. “I’m 150% with everything I do. So when I was studying to interview for the job, it’s like — I’m all in.”
‘You have to manage the politics’
Maleyko said he hadn’t planned to become superintendent in Dearborn. He was hired full-time at Salina Elementary in 1997, teaching third and then fifth grade, and then became the assistant principal. He later became the principal at Salina Intermediate and then DuVall Elementary.
His mentor, Brian Whiston, became the Dearborn superintendent in 2008 and eventually brought Maleyko into the central office to run human resources. Maleyko said he served as Whiston’s “right-hand man” until Whiston left in 2015 to become the state superintendent, and the Dearborn board named Maleyko its next superintendent.
As a principal and superintendent, Maleyko brought his teachers to the same mosque he visited as a substitute teacher in ’95, but also the local Catholic church, the Presbyterian church and other community entities.
“It’s important, whatever culture it is where students are from, it’s important that teachers have an understanding of the cultures,” he said.
As superintendent, he developed an interfaith council that he could turn to on any issue. Maleyko said he turned to the council during one of the hardest times the district faced in his time there.
In 2022, Dearborn became the national face of a debate on school library books. A board meeting had to be suspended because of the hundreds of people who attended. When the meeting resumed, 1,300 people were there, he said. Many of them, he said, were not from Dearborn.
“We had people that were campaigning for elections who we’d never seen before, that were using our meetings as a pawn for their political motives,” Maleyko said.
The district removed a small number of books from the school’s library and designated others to be available only for high school students. Maleyko said the district did not “ban” books but developed a system for review that was later adopted by several other districts.
Maleyko said he delivered a message at that board meeting to those in attendance that had come from students on his student advisory council.
“‘We don’t really want to come to the board meetings, can you tell the adults the way they’re behaving, they’re not very good role models for us?’” Maleyko remembered the students telling him.
Other moments of tension
It wasn’t Maleyko’s only political fight as superintendent.
In the COVID-19 pandemic, Maleyko said half of his inbox would be filled with emails saying school should reopen — the other half insisted it should not.
In 2019, Maleyko heard from students that they would like to see the school offer more meals that fit with their cultural restrictions. The district contracted with Southwest Foodservice Excellence to offer Halal and other ethnic food options.
Maleyko said he received blowback for the decision, again, mostly from outside Dearborn.
“We’re just accommodating the students…, but we took some negativity out of state for those things, as we were doing it,” he said. “But it didn’t matter because it’s the right thing to do for students.”
Maleyko said he takes a “glass half-full” approach to the political fights.
“You’re stronger for having gone through situations,” he said. “As a superintendent, you have to manage the politics, you have to work through it. It doesn’t scare me because I know I need to do that. And why am I doing that? I’m doing that to ensure that I get to what I’m really here for, which is making a difference and making sure students achieve at a high level.”
Maleyko: ‘I’m ready to roll’
Maleyko said there wasn’t another job he would have applied for except the state superintendency. He was content to retire from Dearborn.
“But this is one that excited me to make a difference on a broader level to work together,” he said.
Maleyko had long established himself as a figure in both Lansing and Washington, D.C., often advocating for the needs of immigrant students. He served as the president of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators and was named the organization’s Superintendent of the Year in 2019.
When former state Superintendent Michael Rice announced he would retire from the job, Maleyko said he jumped at the chance to apply.
“I was very excited to apply and put myself out there and say, ‘Hey, this is what I stand for, and if you want, let’s work together in collaboration to make a difference for students,” he said.
For his interviews, he leaned on his favorite pre-hockey pump-up strategy, blasting AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” in the car on the way there. “I walked up here, I had no nerves,” Maleyko said. “I’m ready to roll.”
Not everyone was charmed. Republican board members Tom McMillin and Nikki Snyder said repeatedly they were not happy with any of the three finalists. They both voted against Maleyko’s appointment, as did Mitchell Robinson, an Okemos Democrat.
Snyder said she still is not convinced Maleyko is the right person for the job.
“My greatest concern regarding Mr. Maleyko is whether he will be able to encourage the all-hands-on-deck literacy changes desperately needed in Michigan,” Snyder said in an email. “Parents and students need a transformational leader ready to do what it takes, not testify against literacy reforms and then tour the state with a smile. As 44th in the nation in 4th-grade reading, we don’t need a PR campaign for our schools; we need immediate action with results.”
But board President Pamela Pugh, D-Saginaw, said she appreciates Maleyko’s students first and collaborative approach.
“I appreciate his commitment to listening to educators, families, and board members, and to building even greater urgency around Michigan’s ongoing work to strengthen literacy, improve student outcomes, especially as it relates to special education, and support public education across the state,” Pugh said. “I look forward to continuing to work together in the service of Michigan’s children.”
Maleyko said the votes against him didn’t bother him, and he is in the process of having individual meetings with every board member.
“I have no issue at all,” he said. “Regardless of if you voted for me or not, we’ve got to work together, right, that’s what it’s about and that’s what I plan to do. And I don’t hold negativity because of it personally.”
Maleyko said it was hard to leave Dearborn, where they threw him a going-away party. He said he finally broke down on the last day.
“I love Dearborn,” he said. “It’s who I am, it’s been more than — I spent more than half my life there.”
David Mustonen, Dearborn’s communication director, said Maleyko is “the perfect person for the role he’s in right now.”
“I think he’s going to do a fabulous job up there,” Mustonen said.
He predicted Maleyko’s first act would be to make a new “Students First” sign, this one for the Michigan Department of Education. That’s exactly what Maleyko did.
Pushing back on federal decisions
One thing Maleyko did take personally: The U.S. Department of Education this year ended the Blue Ribbon Schools program. The program recognized the top schools in the country, including at least one Dearborn school six times during Maleyko’s superintendency.
He was disappointed, he said, because it was “a positive thing” and didn’t cost much. School leaders who were honored in Washington paid their own way to get there. The cost to the federal government, he said, was basically “one banquet.”
This fall, the Michigan Department of Education took on the duty of honoring the Michigan schools that would have been recognized as Blue Ribbon Schools. Maleyko said he was glad to see it.
It won’t be the only place the state has to step in for roles that used to be filled by the U.S. Department of Education, he said.
The Trump administration is working to dismantle the department, which historically has served a role to protect students’ civil rights and fill in funding gaps for low-income students and students with disabilities. During a September appearance in Detroit, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon preached turning education “back to the states.”
Maleyko said he’s worried about what that means, particularly on funding for marginalized student groups. When the federal government earlier this year paused what is known as Title funding, he went to Washington to tell lawmakers the harm it would do.
“Hey, this is going to hurt,” Maleyko said. “It wasn’t about red or blue districts. If we don’t get the funding, it’s going to hurt all students.”
Maleyko has so far just one stated policy initiative, to require a reading training program for all K-5 teachers called LETRS. The program has been lauded for the background knowledge it provides teachers on the science of reading, or how the brain learns to read. But it is also intense and time-consuming, with two parts that each take 60 hours to complete.
Maleyko acknowledged that requiring the training, which the state just strongly encourages, would take legislation to require it and funding to support it. It would also mean providing support for the local superintendents, who would have to figure out how to work such a hefty training requirement into a teacher’s workday.
“It may not happen overnight, but I would like to continue to move and advocate in that area,” he said.
Michigan’s new literacy and dyslexia laws don’t have a broad requirement to use a specific curriculum, as some other states have done to spur growth in reading scores. Michigan currently ranks 44th in fourth grade reading, based on the National Assessment of Education Progress, and a drop in third grade reading state test results had critics across the state pushing for reforms.
Requiring the training would take Michigan’s laws one step further. Maleyko said in general he is in favor of “more of a carrot way to go versus the stick,” but he believes the training should be mandated. He said Dearborn was just in the process of moving to LETRS training for its teachers when he left.
“You have to have local control, but yeah, if we want to improve achievement and test scores, at some point, you’ve got to make a decision,” he said.
Maleyko said his other top priority for his early days on the job will be a listening tour across the state, especially to the areas he’s less familiar with after 30 years in one school district.
Just like he did as a substitute teacher, Maleyko is seeking to connect with those who have had experiences different than his own.
Maleyko still remembers a local newspaper story from 1997 about Salina teachers visiting the mosque.
“My dad cut out the article,” Maleyko said. “He was proud — ‘You’re making a difference here.’”
