Cindy Haidu-Banks, a former teacher at Community has come out of retirement to lend a hand in this year’s celebration of Jones Elementary School.

After being a part of the Social Studies Department for 20 years, Haidu-Banks made the difficult decision to leave CHS in February of 2020. Haidu-Banks used her time away to be closer with her two granddaughters while also spending time away from home and traveling. Additionally, last semester she was a substitute teacher for Joslyn Hunscher-Young’s African American social studies class.

“As we all know, in March of 2020, Covid hit so many of the plans that I had changed because of Covid as everyone else’s did,” Haidu-Banks said.

Nonetheless, this did not stop her from doing some work over the summer in preparation for coming back. Working with Hunscher-Young, Janelle Johnson and Brian Williams in their group titled the Jones School Centennial Committee.

This year of CHS being dedicated to bringing awareness and celebrating the school it was before has brought Haidu-Banks back home. Ready to share her passion for history with the rest of us, she started a CR of her own centered around Jones elementary school and the hidden black history of Ann Arbor.

Though her class is small with a total of three students, they are already making an enormous impact. All taking the class for similar yet different reasons, whether that be a shared interest for history or wanting to connect more with their community, they are beginning to develop their own ways of making their mark this year.