School Board Candidate Forum

Here are my comments followed by the LT article about the Candidate Forum.

I attended this candidate forum and my observations are the following:

Carol Craig was masterful in her command of the issues and her assessment of her strengths as a candidate: she will provide "effective and stable leadership" during all of the upcoming transitions. Her strengths are her objectivity, ability to invest time in the school district issues, and be respectful but ask tough questions. In my opinion, her task of leading the Little Red Study Committee was a perfect example of walking straight into a really tough problem and examining everything and then proposing sensible and achievable steps to move forward in a way that is constructive and comprehensive for the entire district. What more can we ask for in our elected officials?

Bob Jahnke's responses were a re-run of all the same answers that have not worked in the past. He has already served 9 years on the ECASD BOE and, as far as I am concerned, is one of the Board members who we can classify as "asleep at the wheel" as the district train derailed over the last 10 years. He thinks more money would solve all the problems and would not consider closing more schools to save programming. He is in favor of another referendum for both operating expenses and facilities ASAP and favors a November election over an April one. Has Bob already forgotten that the last one less than a year ago went down in flames? His answers typify the old adage that it is foolish to do the same things over and over again and expect the result to be different.

Adam Shiel is a newcomer to the public sphere. Adam is willing to bring his analytical skills as an electrical engineer, his concern for the children of our community as a parent, his ideas for wise spending as a taxpayer, and his desire for 21st Century workforce standards as an employee to the ECASD and use them to renew our commitment to make our schools a vital part of our community. Solid, respectful and with some new energy and perspective that is needed on the Board.

Maria
Updated: 3/7/2008

Boundary shifts possible, school board candidates say
But further information called for
By Christena T. O'Brien
Leader-Telegram staff
Boundary changes may need to be considered to address lower target enrollments at some north side schools, according to candidates seeking seats on the Eau Claire school board.

But before any action is taken, three of the four candidates - Robert G. Janke, Doug Mell and Adam Shiel - said more information is needed.

"I think it's a good idea to look at demographics of the area before we make any changes," Shiel said Thursday at a candidates forum at DeLong Middle School, which also included Janke and incumbent Carol Craig.

The four are vying for two seats on the school board in the April 1 general election. Incumbent Mike O'Brien, the board's president, isn't seeking re-election.

Mell, unable to attend the forum because of a work commitment in Madison, said he supports a districtwide boundary study with the goal of reaching target capacities in all school facilities - one of the recommendations of the committee that studied how to best use Little Red School.

Through the course of the Little Red committee's work, enrollment figures for the current school year showed target enrollments at some north side schools were much lower than schools on the south side. The figures also showed low enrollment is an issue at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

"Before I would want to make any recommendations about changing a school (or its boundaries), I would want to understand what the educational trade-offs are," Shiel said. "If target enrollments are below what the district thinks (they should be), a consequence of getting those schools closer to target enrollments could most likely be larger class sizes. Is that ... what we want to do?"

"We do have some severe problems," Mell said in a telephone interview after the forum. "We need good information on current population and projected growth and then put together a long-range plan for handling enrollment issues, building issues, technology issues for 10 and 20 years down the road."

Craig, one of three school board members to serve on the Little Red committee, also favors implementing a long-range plan.

In terms of the enrollment, "I would suggest we might want to take a look at the concept of floating boundaries, where instead of just having one neighborhood boundary we have maybe two or three shared schools, where we have floating boundaries, so all our facilities might be able to be used in the most efficient way," she said.

"Another thing we might want to consider is reconfiguring our grades. We may want to take a look at (schools that are) kindergarten through second grade, third grade through fifth grade, (possibly a sixth grade through eighth grade) to better utilize the facilities that we have."

Like Mell and Shiel, Janke, a former school board member, said he believes the board needs to have a detailed analysis of demographics.

"I think some (school board) members were ready to close Little Red and Cleghorn because they wanted to save some money and so forth," said Janke, referring to the two schools.

(The school board followed the Little Red committee's recommendation last month and voted to close the school at the end of the 2007-08 academic year. Cleghorn was closed in 2003.)

"I think these same people ought to stand up and point to one school in the north half of the town to close," said Janke, who opposed closing both schools.

"I might suggest Northstar should be looked at because that is under-enrolled. The county is spending $60 million ... to build a new jail. Well, we could probably sell (Northstar) to them. It already looks like a jail.

"The real problem is (school districts) aren't permitted to build like we should be. The whole thing is money. That's the real problem."