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School board candidates tackle the issues
News · September 03, 2015
Jodi Yeggy, Julie Sexton, Keith Schultes and Alexis Johnson will compete in the Sept. 8 election for three seats on the West Branch Board of Education.
The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Town Hall.
We asked the candidates to respond to four questions regarding school issues.
Each candidate was allowed up to 400 words to respond to all four questions.
1. After more than a year’s worth of work, a committee created the 15-year Master Facilities Plan for the school district.
Since its release, some have raised questions about some of the projects, like whether the school district should move the baseball field, move the bus barn or raze West Branch Middle School.
What changes, if any, would you make to the District’s 15-year plan?
2. School budget: On the negative side, 1) West Branch school enrollment decreased, and, thus, state aid, and 2) Gov. Terry Branstad vetoed a line-item for one-time funding — both were among the reasons that contributed to lower school district revenues.
On the positive side, the district will get a third (about $83,000) of a three-year, $250,000 Teacher Leadership and Compensation grant.
All pluses and minuses combined, West Branch schools will have about $115,000 less in the budget this year.
To compensate, school leaders plan a series of cost-savings measures.
Among those measures are dropping fourth grade from three to “two-and-a-half” classrooms and eliminating the prekindergarten classroom for 5-year-olds. (For more details, read “WB schools cutting spending, but teacher shuffle works out” in the July 23 West Branch Times.)
What do you think of the district’s response to the reduction of funding?
3. In the spring, Gov. Terry Branstad asked the Iowa Department of Education to reject many common reasons public schools give when requesting an early start waiver, to avoid overlapping the start of the school year with the Iowa State Fair.
The West Branch Board of Education wanted to start Aug. 17, but the state said they had to wait for Aug. 31.
In the end, the legislature passed a law allowing schools to start one day after the Iowa State Fair, which this year is Aug. 24.
What is your position on this conflict between the state and school districts?
4. While teachers, children and parents all have some level of responsibility, who must take the lead in making sure a pupil is doing their schoolwork, meeting deadlines and behaving properly?
Why?
Alexis Johnson
Occupation: Lead Pastor of West Branch United Methodist Church
Family: Husband Mark Johnson, and daughter Magdalene
School ties: Children and Youth Discipleship is one of my primary responsibilities, their education has a key role in their growth into mature individuals.
1. I have not been a part of the conversations leading up to these changes, so it is impossible to speculate about changes without all of the information.
I look forward to a chance to listen and learn about the Master Facilities Plan and other issues the Board addresses.
2. It seems like everyone is tightening their belts these days and having to reprioritize.
I commend our board for keeping staff, using grant money, and visioning for a more effective future.
This new structure is an experiment so, at the very least, we will learn some great lessons this next year.
3. I believe all decisions regarding education should be about what is best for the students and the teachers.
I can understand consistency across the state but only if it’s done for the right reasons. Was this decision made for the right reasons? What precedent does this set up for future decisions regarding education?
I believe local governments need the ability to make these decisions based on their context, it is challenging for a state to react to every context.
4. I truly believe that answer depends on age, but ultimately rests with the parents and the students.
Parents should be teaching appropriate behavior at home and checking in that students are meeting classroom expectations. Students should be able to be meet age-appropriate expectations on their own.
The teachers role is to outline the expectations and communicate about progress on those expectations.
Keith Schultes
Occupation: Farmer
Family: wife Diane and three daughters: Olivia, Avery and Addi
School ties: All three daughters attend school at West Branch, in 8th, 5th, and 2nd grades.
1. This 15-year plan will probably change in the 15 years preceding its goal. Having a projected plan is a good place to start and does create dialogue in the community. One specific detail to point out is the geographical split between 5th and 6th grades. How different would the 15-year plan be at a 6th and 7th grade split? The 6th grade doesn’t have school-sanctioned extracurricular activities after school hours.
2. I support the school’s changes as long as the education and well being of the students aren’t affected. Changes have to be made to keep the budget balanced. Feedback from these cuts will be important to the upcoming budget for the next fiscal year.
3. I side for the local school districts. Every school district is different, whether they are an urban school or a rural school, or in the north tier of counties or south. Although, if my daughters have a chance to participate at the Iowa State Fair and miss school, I would be driving them to Des Moines. They won’t be going just to visit if school is in session though. That is our family’s choice. We all know what the weather can do to a school schedule, so that’s a constant that we can’t predict. I understand this is an issue. As for me, it’s just not a “State” issue.
4. The student should be responsible for schoolwork and deadlines. Especially from the middle grades on up. Teachers can spend more time on learning issues with students that want or need assistance. Sure the parents should be involved, getting involved is hard to do sometimes. I don’t think teachers need to be emailing parents about homework or deadlines. Missing an assignment or deadline could seem humiliating and embarrassing; hopefully the student will try harder for it not to happen again. When it comes to a behavioral issue, it definitely needs to start at home. Parents should have their children ready to learn and not be disruptive to other students and faculty. Then communication between parents and teachers is important.
Julie Sexton
Occupation: Senior HR Specialist at the University of Iowa
Spouse: Rick
Children and school ties: Michael attended West Branch Community Schools; and Savannah is in 7th grade
1. The District’s 15-year plan has been created with input from surveys, needs assessments, personal interviews, focus group interviews, community forums and input from current students and graduates. There are two committees that include community members which have provided time and support to assist the school district with developing this Master Facilities Plan – the School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC) and the Facilities Advisory Committee (FAC). I have had the privilege of serving on the SIAC for two years. The District’s 15-year plan is intended to serve as a guide for fiscal decision-making in the future to meet the long term facility goals for students. Phase II has already begun with restroom and locker room restorations at the elementary and the expansion of the high school parking lot. The plan is aligned to and supportive of the District’s Strategic Plan, which is imperative. Both students and staff deserve safe, first-rate learning facilities. At this time, I do not have any recommended changes to the District’s 15-year plan.
2. The district had to take many factors into consideration when making these difficult decisions. They had to be aware of the implications that would follow with any decisions they made. In the end they did the best they could with the choices they had. The two measures mentioned above were based on enrollment scenarios and it happened to work out the two staff members affected were placed in other positions. However, I do believe the fourth grade set-up should be evaluated throughout the year just to be sure the two-and-a-half classrooms is meeting the needs of the students as it was intended to. There were other measures taken as well and the district will have to again be diligent with their planning and budgeting for next year.
3. School calendars should be a matter of local control. School districts should be given the authority to set start dates based on the best educational interests of their students.
4. Depending on the age of the child, it could be the child is in the position to take ownership of their schoolwork, meeting deadlines, and behaving properly. However, it may be in the best interest of the child to have a partnership between teachers and parents in order to be successful. Children and their circumstances are all different and it would need to be determined by input from all as to what works best for the child.
Jodi Yeggy
Occupation: Account Manager at Univar, a chemical and ingredient distribution company
Spouse: Jerry Yeggy
Children: Skylar (7th grade, 12 yrs old), Lanie (1st grade, 6 yrs old) and Bria (Kindergarten, 5 yrs old)
Ties: Children in school; active member of the Parent-Teacher Organization and served as president for a couple years; was a member of the superintendent selection process; committee member for the Facilities Planning Committee; and was a member of the committee responsible for developing the Foundation.
1. I was fortunate to be a part of the Facilities Planning committee during the multi-year process and commend the work of over a dozen community members and a qualified architecture team. The process started with a full assessment of our current facilities and looked at the needs of our district five to 20 years out. Much thought was put into the recommendations during the structured planning process. I am comfortable with the current set of recommendations made by the committee, but I would encourage feedback and I continue to have an open mind to any changes.
2. All districts in our state are dealing with less funding this year and most have had to cut programs and even teachers and staff. While putting kids in larger class sizes is never an ideal situation, I feel that our administrators have done a great job ensuring that the impact on the quality of our kids’ education is minimized while being faced with fewer and fewer resources.
3. It is unfortunate that state politics has interfered with the authority of local school boards and administration to make rational decisions based on the needs of students. I believe there are numerous academic drivers that support an earlier August start date. It is not merely a fight over how long or short the “summer break” is for teachers and students. A majority of districts in the state previously opted to adopt the earlier start date in order to finish the semester before the holiday break and coordinate with college course scheduling for those students enrolled in a dual-credit curriculum.
4. Ultimately it is each individual student’s responsibility, but I think that parents and teachers play an integral role in setting that stage. It is up to adults to instill a work ethic in our youth and as they get older it is the responsibility of teachers, parents and the community to hold them accountable.
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