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Six of the seven East Newton R-6 School Board candidates and two of the four Granby mayor candidates answered various questions during a candidate forum Monday night 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. Martin Lindstedt was not at the forum. The two Granby mayor candidates were Donna Fullerton and Barry Flint.
Current Mayor Paul Ferguson and mayor pro-tem Carol Sparnicht were not present.
One of the questions asked to the school board candidates was, “With the federal state budget cuts a lot of school districts are seeing, what are some ways that East Newton can offset that deficit?”
Clubbs: “I think that we need to look at our programs, people talked about going back and looking at old budgets that are comparable with the amount of money that we have now and what new programs we have added and what we can cut. I agree with that to an extent, but I think some of the new programs that we added are good programs, I don’t want to lose those. I think some of the old programs that we have maybe are a little bit outdated and need to go to the wayside. So looking at those sorts of things. I don’t want to cut positions. I would hate to see any budget come before me that says, ‘hey let’s put money toward the football field or a gymnasium or school, but has 20 positions to be cut. I think that our staff and faculty are valuable to us, they help us mold our children…”
Renner: “Eighty percent of our budget is teaching, goes to the administration and teachers…it is in salaries. That is not where you want to cut. You cut staff, you are hurting the children. East Newton is in one of the best financial situations of any school around. We are in better shape than a lot of schools around here.”
Clarkson: “You really don’t want to cut staff and faculty, because that is where the children are learning, that is what the school is based on. But in turn as a whole, again, Lance (Renner) has stated that we have not really been hurt as hard over here because we don’t have anything that has been shut down. We are not losing that tax base, everything has stayed fairly steady for us. But you also need to look at when the state mandates something or the federal government mandates, ‘you have to have this many health staff or you have to have this curriculum or this class,’ you have to provide that. But then if they are not willing to fund it, you have to figure out where it is going to come from….”
Six of the seven East Newton R-6 School Board candidates and two of the four Granby mayor candidates answered various questions during a candidate forum Monday night 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. Martin Lindstedt was not at the forum. The two Granby mayor candidates were Donna Fullerton and Barry Flint.
Current Mayor Paul Ferguson and mayor pro-tem Carol Sparnicht were not present.
One of the questions asked to the school board candidates was, “With the federal state budget cuts a lot of school districts are seeing, what are some ways that East Newton can offset that deficit?”
Clubbs: “I think that we need to look at our programs, people talked about going back and looking at old budgets that are comparable with the amount of money that we have now and what new programs we have added and what we can cut. I agree with that to an extent, but I think some of the new programs that we added are good programs, I don’t want to lose those. I think some of the old programs that we have maybe are a little bit outdated and need to go to the wayside. So looking at those sorts of things. I don’t want to cut positions. I would hate to see any budget come before me that says, ‘hey let’s put money toward the football field or a gymnasium or school, but has 20 positions to be cut. I think that our staff and faculty are valuable to us, they help us mold our children…”
Renner: “Eighty percent of our budget is teaching, goes to the administration and teachers…it is in salaries. That is not where you want to cut. You cut staff, you are hurting the children. East Newton is in one of the best financial situations of any school around. We are in better shape than a lot of schools around here.”
Clarkson: “You really don’t want to cut staff and faculty, because that is where the children are learning, that is what the school is based on. But in turn as a whole, again, Lance (Renner) has stated that we have not really been hurt as hard over here because we don’t have anything that has been shut down. We are not losing that tax base, everything has stayed fairly steady for us. But you also need to look at when the state mandates something or the federal government mandates, ‘you have to have this many health staff or you have to have this curriculum or this class,’ you have to provide that. But then if they are not willing to fund it, you have to figure out where it is going to come from….”
Harper: “I think that we have to work smarter, not harder…. the toughest cuts to make are personnel cuts, they are horrible. Everybody hates to make them. Sometimes it is necessary. I am not talking about teaching positions, what we call certified positions at the school, teachers, and administrators, to some degree we need to leave alone. But we need to look at the non-certified positions very carefully. I don’t have the answer today, but we do need to evaluate, ‘do we need all of the non-certified staff that we have. Do we need the directors that we have, a director of technology, director of security, do we need those positions…”
Deman: “Don’t cut teachers, that is first and foremost. Administration, I have not set on the board before, I don’t know what the federal rules and guidelines are. We have three campuses – that is three of everything and that is tough, plain and simple. That is just tough…”
Frencken: “We are looking at cutting expenses a lot of different ways, cutting the teachers, no that is the last resort. We are out here to have an education — that is what that school is about. Good education, so the kids can go on. And be an asset… Do we need a brand new track resurfaced for $350,000 or $400,000? I believe that we probably need some schools, some repairs done maybe before we do that. Maybe we could go back to some basics, some old values in a new system.”
After the forum, the Neosho Daily News asked the candidates a couple of questions. Here are their responses.
Why did you decide to run for the school board?
Clarkson: “I never got on for an agenda. I enjoy working on the board. I have done a lot of community service with the ball teams, ball leagues and the community building. I was on the community building board for about 14 years and was on a building committee out here. I just like serving. I like making good decisions. I like working with good people that make intelligent decisions and I like participating. I like being a community server.”
Deman: “I don’t understand exactly how it works. And I want to understand. So my opinion is if you don’t understand something, be apart of it and you learn.”
Frencken: “This country has been good to me and I decided that it was time to give back something. I think that I have the values to do it.”
Harper: “I think that our school has a lot of opportunities, both educationally and budget-wise. We are not where we need to be on English and math areas of study. Construction-wise, we have several issues. Our building leaks. Our air conditioner doesn’t work. We have faulty septic systems, and we are not spending the money to address the issues. We are lacking textbooks in our classrooms. There is a myriad of issues and I feel it is a way that I could give back to the community.”
Renner: “I believe things are good with our board. According to some of the other candidates, they say our school is doing a very poor job with teaching, I beg to differ. We are a distinction in schools, I believe that we have a good school and I wish to maintain that.”
Clubbs: “My children go to school here, and I just want to be involved in their education. I see some things that I personally would like to change, such as everybody being able to take home a textbook. It really concerned me when I showed up for the high school orientation for my daughter who is a freshman and she is only able to take home a few of her textbooks because the school district didn’t have enough money to buy all of them. So coming up with some sort of solution for that. Just being involved, I really enjoy working with kids, that is what I do for a living and I am concerned when I see kids that come in they don’t have goals and I think that it starts in the home, but I think that we have to expound on that in the school district, too.”
See Wednesday’s edition of the Daily News for more questions from Monday’s candidate forum. Also, see Sunday’s edition for the Granby mayor’s race.
