By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
As a government teacher and Bowling Green Education Association president, Jeff Nichols appreciated what transpired early this month when the seven candidates for the Bowling Green Board of Education gathered to answer questions posed by teachers.
They showed it was possible, he said, “to disagree without being disagreeable.”
Retired middle school teacher Lane Hakel served as moderator said the candidates were willing consider “ the audacious idea of being on a school board. … It can be a very uncomfortable place to be.” They do this because “they believe in our schools believe the future and believe in our future. … Schools boards are vitality important.”
Brian Paskvan, Peggy A. Thompson, Stephen Bateson, Joe Edens, Steven Goyer, Howard “Ardy”. Gonyer, and Tracy Hovest are vying for three seats on the board.
[RELATED: Seven candidates competing for three available seats on BG Board of Education]
Hovest is the only incumbent. Ginny Stewart and Jill Carr are not seeking re-election.
Hakel posed the questions submitted by the union.
These are how the candidates responded to three of those questions.
How do you describe your top two objectives if you are elected to the board?
THOMPSON: The district needs to “find a way to unite our district through transparency and communication. Both are vital for community.”
To that end she recommended developing a 10-year-plan.
The district needs to find other sources of income beside property and income tax revenues, possibly by forming an endowment or looking for grants. “That’s vital if we are to move forward.”
While farmers pay taxes on their property and the income generated by that property, public entities such as BGSU do not pay taxes.
BATESON: Even if the bond to build the new high school is passed, what will the district do to address the immediate problems? “What are we going to do now? We’ve been talking about this since 2016. Little has been done.”
He noted that the district has “$20 million in its checkbook.” (According to Superintendent Ted Haselman at a recent board meeting that number is $17 million.)
The district needs to be more transparent in its finances. He said he believed the district is a good fiduciary of public funds, “but most people don’t understand that.” The district should enroll in the state’s Ohio Checkbook program.
GOYER: Transparency is important.
“We need to start doing things now and take into consideration what it takes to get our schools up to date.” Other area districts are ahead of Bowling Green in this regard.
From the meetings he attended about the proposed new high school, he believes the district has a good concept. “We need to do things that are forward thinking.”
He added: “Things in the past could have been done better. … We need to do things to go forward.”
EDENS: The facilities, first the high school and then the elementary schools, are his top priority.
Secondly, “we need to start thinking about how we can better support those folks who play a critical role in the day-to-day support of our students and operation of our schools.” The district has among the lowest salaries in the area.
Teachers and staff needed higher pay. “There’s a lot more we can do for staff.”
That would be $20 an hour for bus drivers. It means increasing compensation for cafeteria and custodial workers.
Paraprofessionals who support teachers are professionals. “And we should treat them as such.”
GONYER: His top priorities would be facilities, first, the high school and “and then immediately start talking about other facilities, our elementary school.”
Staff should be paid more and also recognized for their work.
The district needs to work on “retaining our excellent staff and making sure we continue to recruit excellent staff.”
Also, “we need to champion our staff and teacher and the great work you’re doing every day and inform the public of that.”
HOVEST: The district is going to need to pass an operating levy in 2024. “Without passing the operational, we will not be able to maintain our services.”
The Board of Education has been committed to making pay in the district more competitive. That’s been a gradual process. Without the operating levy, the district will not be able to continue to do that.
Making some levies continuing, so the district does not have to return to the ballot every five years to renew it, has stabilized the district’s finances.
Communication about these issues is important, and the new superintendent Ted Haselman has emphasized that.
“We have good leadership at the helm.”
PASKVAN: “The first priority is a healthy learning environment for students and teachers “I’m. very concerned about bad plumbing, hot classrooms, mold, rodents, and leaky roofs. We have to figure out a way to fix that.”
He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the facilities required for a learning environment, and Bowling Green falls short.
The schools need collaborative space and facilities to teach robotics and virtual reality, facilities that other schools have.
“We have to make sure we have services for students who are not meeting standards and for gifted students.”
The district must address compensation. Bowling Green has some of the lowest salaries for teachers and staff in the area.
How would you respond to a parent who wants the district to limit access or even remove books from the school library or from the classroom?
BATESON: “First I would have to know what the information or source of the concern is.” He assumes all the books and educational support material have been approved by the state of Ohio, and as a school board member it is not his role to determine what books should or should not be available. “We pay people to be curriculum experts. We pay people to be educators.”
GOYER: “The first thing we should do is take the complaint seriously and find out why the parent thinks we should ban it or restrict it.” The board should take it under advisement and get back to the parent once a decision is made. “Sometimes a complaint may be legitimate. … The parent needs to be taken seriously. We need to be responsive to those people.”
EDENS: “The school board shouldn’t be in the book banning business. As a public body its or job to be content neutral.” The district hires licensed media specialists and educators to make those decisions. Those are not up to the board.
“This is not the Wild West in terms of terms of decision making. There’s a lot of layers in terms of responsibility and expertise that I trust.”
He added that the state made a mistake when it reduced the number of librarians in middle schools.
GONYER: While he would listen to a parent’s complaint, he could speak for the entire board. The teachers and librarians are the experts and are required to follow the state’s curriculum. “There’s no need for us to get involved in that. It’s not in my wheelhouse.”
HOVEST: “As an English teacher by day and a board member by night, I would never support banning any books.
She recalled a parent complaining to a principal about something their child was reading. The principal asked: Is your child reading? Then what’s the problem?
Books teach students “to be better people and to empathize with people that are similar or different than them. Parents can make decision for their own child not to read a book, but they cannot make the decision for another student.”
PASKVAN: “I don’t believe in banning books.” As a library trustee for 18 years, 14 as president of the board, he was part of the committee that handle complaints about materials. “We have a whole process set up.”
Parents should be listened to, but state standards must be followed.
THOMPSON: “I do know that sometime parents are not listened to. We have to make sure that if a parent has a question or concern that we take it seriously and not just say ‘well, that’s the curriculum.’ We have to make sure we’re listening, and if there’s an issue deal with it.”
3. Do you support current bond issue and what are your thoughts about next steps to address the deteriorating elementary schools?
GOYER: In favor. Something needs to be done for the facilities. He supported the previous plans (which were defeated three times) to consolidate the elementary schools. If that’s not possible than the existing schools need to be renovated.
EDENS: “Yes, I certainly support the bond issue.” Once that is approved attention needs to turn to the elementary schools. He noted that a few years ago, the district could have addressed the issues with the high school and with the elementary schools for $70 million. Now $72.8 million only funds the new high school. “Every year we delay that we’re going to pay more. … We need to invest in our schools.”
That’s what will attract more families to live in the district. That will spread out the tax burden.
GONYER: As far as supporting the levy “110 percent yes.” He has supported previous levies. Whether it is paid with property taxes or a mix of property and income taxes, the opposition just says “no, no, no.”
“This is the plan on the table. This is what we need. We need to get this passed, so on Nov. 8 we can immediately start talking about elementary schools.”
He is not tied to a consolidated school or maintaining “neighborhood” schools. “We need to figure out what’s best.”
And there’s also the operating levy to consider.
HOVEST: Supports the levy as she has previous levies. Addressing the teachers, she said: “These are your working conditions and students’ learning conditions.”
A master facilities plan will point the way toward what needs to be done at the elementary schools. There are maintenance issues that need to be addressed.
The school board has addressed some using abatement and pipeline funds. The district has also secured grants for new technology in classrooms and a new public address system.
PASKVAN: He supports this levy as he has previous levies though he has not always agreed with the funding mechanism.
“We need a master facilities plan. We need to know what’s coming down the pike.”
The passage of the levy and the building of a new high school would be great. Still “we need to find a way to fix these elementaries.”
And he wonders how taxpayers will react to a request for more operating dollars coming right after the bond levy.
THOMPSON: Does not support passage on the bond levy because it only addresses the high school and is funded through property taxes. Transparency is needed. Where, for example, is the money that the district saved by making the income tax levy continuing?
The district needs to find a way other than property and income taxes to fund buildings and operations, and she is willing to help research to find those ways.”
BATESON: Clearly sees the need for updated facilities at the high school. “I don’t support the funding mechanism. The funding we tried in the past has not been successful.”
The funding mechanism that used income and property as well as having the district apply for state school facility funds only failed by 32 votes. He commended the board for applying for those funds in this case. Superintendent Ted Haselman has also approved of that move and has explained why that’s a good thing.
But the funding should be “ shared sacrifice.
“This bond issue only addresses the property aspect.”
The district needs a new high school and the elementary schools “need vast improvement, sooner rather than later. This bond issue does nothing for that unfortunately.”
There are measures that can be taken to improve conditions in the schools, but those will not fix the larger problem.
