School Board Forum Brings Tough Questions From Panel And Residents

A panel of 3 local mayors questioned the Oskaloosa School Board candidates Tuesday night at Smokey Row in Oskaloosa

Oskaloosa, Iowa – It what could best be described as a light turnout to Smokey Row last night, residents came out to hear from the Oskaloosa School Board candidates.

Oskaloosa Mayor Dave Krutzfeldt brought the meeting forward and made the proper introductions, and then the group settled down for a group of 3 questions that had been sent out ahead of time to the candidates.

Four of the five candidates made it to the forum those being Laurie Palmer, Charlie Comfort,Tom Richardson and Nik Rule. Not present was current Oskaloosa School Board President Don Patterson.

The candidates were given three questions prior to the start of the forum. They were given one minute each to reply to the prepared questions. After the initial set of questions, the moderator panel consisting of Mayor Dave Krutzfeldt of Oskaloosa, Mayor Shawn Maxwell of Beacon and Mayor George Toubekis of University Park took to firing questions to the candidates.

The first three questions as mentioned were as follows:

1 – Given that the first grade class sizes were above the State recommended average last year, coupled with the argument that class sizes will continue to grow. What recommendations would you have to reduce class sizes with the current space allocations without reducing teachers and associates?

Rule – Thinks it’s important to trust the teachers and administration they’re the professionals here. He thinks that a possible solution would be to have two teachers in the classroom to help keep the student to teacher ratio, and might help some with the problem.

Richardson – Says that the “Elementary School is literally full” He went on to explain that there are no extra classrooms and that one of the computer labs was moved to a different location and that space turned into classroom area to help solve the problems. He thinks that looking at incoming classes from places such as preschool will help prepare the school system in planning for what is needed. He explains that the enrollment in Oskaloosa continues to climb and it’s a good problem to have as many communities, their enrollment continues to decline.

Comfort – “I do think this is a very important issue” He says that the ideal situation would be that there are more classrooms to reduce class sizes and add more teachers, but says this isn’t a possibility. Comfort remembers his varying class sizes during his time in school, and the benefit he received by having the smaller class size. His solution would be to hire more associates to allow more one on one experience.

Palmer – Dating back to 2009, she says that during her time on the board, some discussions happened on setting a number for maximum for students in the classroom. She explained that it came down to cost and it would have increased taxes a significant amount to achieve that goal. She said they were trying to balance student need with the resources they have and the burden upon the taxpayer. She went on to explain that the board has incrementally attempted to get class size down and at this point options may arise with use of the Webster Elementary building to help relieve capacity problems at the primary locations.

2 – In 2014 the state is going to make SINA (school in need of assistance) mandatory if your average on the ITBS is not 100% proficient. If we are not a SINA school, how do you envision us staying out of the program? If we are how do you envision us getting out of the program, because this can be a labor intensive process.

Richardson – “In my opinion, we need to continue to follow any and all requirements” from the federal government.

Comfort – He thinks that we need to continue to build upon reading programs in place. He believes that we need to create some before and after school programs where students can work with other students and faculty.

Palmer – Palmer says that by 2014 virtually all schools will be on that list [school in need of assistance] so she says that continuing  to improve is basically what they can do to work with the no child left behind.

Rule – Says that we are going to have to look and make conscience decisions to address areas where improvement needs to be made. He says that looking at programs that are excelling is something we should be doing to see what we can do to improve.

3 – From time to time we hear school officials speaking to the media saying “It’s all about the kids” or “Teachers have a really tough job and are under compensated.” Other times we hear “We have to be good stewards of the taxpayer’s money.” In your opinion, who is in first position, the primary “customer” of the school board that you try to satisfy?

Comfort – Says he believes the primary customer is the kids. He wants to make sure people understand that the needs of the taxpayers and teachers are also important, but the primary focus should be on the children.

Palmer – Says that a student centered approach and that the system revolves around that. She says that “teachers are closest to the students they provide direct instruction for our students” She says that it’s important to take a look at how the system is functioning or not. She says that providing teachers with the tools they need and offering as a district an attractive place for teachers to work. By doing this, she believes that attracting the high quality teachers will provide the high quality instruction to the students.

Rule – “The primary customer is the kids” Rule says. He says that in order to have the best for the kids, we have to have the best teachers and in order for that to be accomplished “we must compensate them competitively in comparison to other states.” He also says we must think about the taxpayers, it’s their money. Handling a budget effectively will also provide trust of our constituents that elect us. He says that all decisions must be for our future generations.

Richardson – Richardson said it’s an easy one to answer as the father of two little kids, and that it is all about the kids. He says we’re obligated to provide the best education we can for the students of Oskaloosa and the mission statement for our schools is “Empower all students for success”. Teacher compensation is important and the taxpayers have to be treated right and that they need to work in the budget requirements. “But if the students do not excel, then the rest of it really doesn’t matter, we failed in a sense, we’ve let them down.” We need to focus on the kids.

There is nearly an hour more question and answer after these prepared questions. If your interested in seeing and hearing more on this forum, visit our friends over at CRI for a complete video of the entire event.

On that note, I would like to thank CRI and their staff for their hard work in helping to make this candidate forum possible.

Posted by on Aug 31 2011. Filed under Local News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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