EN board candidates speak on objectives

Editor’s Note: The following is the second part of the East Newton R-6 School Board candidate forum, which was held on Monday at East Newton High School.

The school board candidates in attendance were Doug Harper, Tal Clubbs, incumbent Lance Renner, incumbent Terry Clarkson, Rusty Deman and write-in candidate Lawrence Frencken. Candidate Martin Lindstedt was not at the forum.

The Neosho Daily News asked a couple of questions to each of the candidates. Here are their responses.

Name two goals you would like to accomplish if elected.

Clarkson: “To still meet the budget and try to get the community more involved with the school. A lot of the board meetings, we discuss that and try to come up with an ideas. Probably those two issues.”

Deman: “Communication and respect throughout. Communication, I don’t believe the parents of the current students at East Newton understand exactly how the administration works or how the board works. So I feel there is a communication breakdown. Respect comes into that same line, because respect is people respecting things that they understand. And when people don’t understand something, they will make up something to fit whatever fits their agenda. And I believe that communication and respect will change a number of how people view the administration, how people view the board. And that, in turn, will affect how kids view the school. Across the board, it will be a very small stone dropped into a very large pool, which will cause a very big ripple.”

Frencken: “One of the main goals is to get the community involved, because we need the community involved. I think the second goal would be putting in a way of getting information to the community, get their interest up, so they would be involved.”

Harper: “Improve communication between the public and the school board. Financial accountability for our school district.”

Renner: “I still want to keep the schools (Granby, Triway) being one East Newton. That was one of my goals when I first got on the board and it was very split then. It has gotten together a lot since then. I still have four children in the East Newton school district and I want what is best for this school also.”

Clubbs: “First is trying to figure out this textbook thing, and getting to where kids either have access online at home or actually have one in their hand. We talk about test scores all of the time, how they have to be raised and our funding is determined off of test scores so on and so forth. It is hard to raise those test scores if kids don’t have a book to bring home. My second goal would be the community involvement, try to get the community involved. I’d like to see people take pride in our school district — we are not a bad school district, we are a good school district. My kids love going here, they are not ashamed to say, ‘hey I go to East Newton.’ I want every kid to feel that way and I want parents to feel that way. So getting the parents involved in our activities here at the school is one of my main goals.”

If a bond issue was to come up, would you support it? Why or why not?

Clarkson: “It would depend on the bond issue. I have always been a supporter of the bond issue. We were looking a couple of years ago at maybe building a new middle school or high school. I was on that building committee. It was very informative and very fulfilling for me to be on that. Ten years ago, we tried to pass a bond issue and build a new middle school and it didn’t pass and we broke it back down to adding on to the two schools. I was not really in favor of that, because it was told at the time that it would only serve our purpose for only about two or three years, and that is what happened. We were back in trailers. I would really be more for a bond issue that is going to serve its purpose and take care of us. However, our population has dropped off a little bit, so we are not as full as we were. But it depends on an issue.”

Deman: “I am not going to go on record on that one. What I would say, anything that would promote the East Newton school district or benefit the students of the R-6 school district, I would be a proponent of.”

Frencken: “A bond issue for construction, I don’t think so at this time. This is a real community and I don’t feel like by being from the community that we would get the support for the bond issue.”

Harper: “At the present time, I wouldn’t support it. We have too many outstanding issues to take care of and we are already in a deficit situation. We need to get our house in order before we consider moving forward on a bond.”

Renner: “We went over this – I don’t even remember how many years ago – three or four years ago. I was all for it 100 percent, but things have changed. Right now in our economy right now, and we are not a growing school anymore — at that time, we were a growing school. The tornado came through, and we have lost students, we have fewer students. Yes, we do still have the trailer houses, but in this economy it just won’t allow this community to do another bond right now.”

Clubbs: “Yes, I would support it. I think that we have a need for a junior high and a new school, whether the new school is a high school or this (high school) becomes a junior high or if this stays the high school and we build a junior high. Granby and Triway are both growing. I think to bring those kids together in a sixth, seventh, and eighth grade building, would be great. I think that it would help them in the long run. Most school districts are sized to have a junior high that have the high school and they have a couple of elementaries, I think that is where we are at. I know some people are afraid that we are going to lose schools and things, I don’t want to lose schools, I think with the way that our district is growing, we are not a Class 3 school, that we can’t afford to lose any schools, but I also don’t like the fact that our kids have to go to trailers to learn and walk outside and being in the elements. I think a new school would be pretty good for them.”