Sat, May 17 2008
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Editor’s note: The Herald Bulletin is endorsing candidates in contested races for local school boards. Endorsements are based on candidates’ stated positions on issues and interviews the editorial board conducted with candidates. Voters are urged to consider the endorsements, along with everything else they know about the candidates, when deciding whom to vote for Tuesday.
In the FRANKTON-LAPEL school board race, we endorse the following candidates:
Joe Kelich (District 3, Lafayette Township): This seat is being vacated, and Kelich, a salesman, shows promise in terms of working with other board members. Plus, he has some experience in financial management, at a church. He would push for a specific curriculum to improve students’ understanding of finances.
Kelich’s opponent, Joni Kendall, stresses the importance of providing alternative education for students whose skills lie beyond traditional book learning. She would promote the use of aptitude tests to discover students’ talents, and she advocates specific, non-traditional education plans to take advantage of those talents.
John Henderson (District 4, Pipe Creek Township): Henderson, a detective in the Madison County Sheriff’s office, has been on the school board for 12 years. He has helped usher the district through a high school building project and has had a hand in keeping the district’s budget balanced.
Challenger Tami Bailey-Davis is full of creative energy and ideas, and as the career and education transition coordinator at Hinds Career Center (in Elwood) she would lend valuable perspective to the board. However, as a vocal critic of the current board and administration, she would lack the necessary influence on the board to foment positive change.
In the SOUTH MADISON school board race, we endorse the following candidates:
Buck Evans (District 1): Evans has a good variety of experience that makes him a well-rounded board member. He owns an indoor sports facility and a storage company and is an equipment operator with IMI. Plus, he has served for 22 years on the Adams Township Fire Department, for eight years on the township advisory board and for five years on the school board. Evans is knee deep now in the complex issue of the school district’s building project (to alleviate classroom crowding), and his removal from the board would be a blow to the process.
Challenger Marilea Wyatt was prompted to run when, she says, the school board failed to consider her opinion and others’ when deciding to stagger the start of the school day for kids in different grade levels. An office manager at Wyatt Electric, she pledges to keep a close eye on the finances of the district, which should be a primary responsibility of any board member.
Shane Cline (District 2): Cline has been impressive in candidate public forums, showing a grasp of the issues and a thoughtful approach to their resolution. A national accounts manager in the chemical industry, his motivation is pure: He wants the school district to be the best it can be for his two young daughters and other students.
Incumbent DeAnn Cook Wehner, mother of four boys in the school system, has made her biggest impact in advocating for good nutrition for students in the schools. The third candidate in the race, Terry Auker, is a former school principal in South Madison Schools and would bring an inside understanding of the various benefits and drawbacks of the renovation project being considered for the old middle school building.
Susan Campbell (District 3): A first-term board member, Campbell has acquitted herself well. As a retiree, she has the time and passion to help shepherd the school district through its growing pains. Campbell advocates a focus on help for struggling readers in the elementary school and doubling language arts class offerings in middle school to improve graduation rates. This makes sense, considering that reading comprehension is at the core of success in the classroom.
Challenger Chris Boots has been active in school committees and has four children attending schools in the district. President and chief executive officer of C.J. Boots Casket Co., he also displays a good understanding of statistics that suggest successes and failures in South Madison schools. Indications are from early contact with the media, however, that he might be hesitant to put his views to the test of intense public scrutiny — something that school board members must routinely endure.
Amy McGinnis (District 4, at large): The president of the school board and a pharmaceuticals salesperson, McGinnis has been extremely active as a volunteer and parent in South Madison schools. A voice of reason with a balanced view of quality of education and budgetary constraints, she provides engaged and steady leadership for the board.
Challenger Quincy Flatford, who was prompted to run for election by dissatisfaction with the plight of South Madison’s school bus drivers, doesn’t rival McGinnis’ record of activism or knowledge of the issues facing the school district.
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