By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
In a tight race with eight candidates on the ballot, voters in Bowling Green City School District elected three to the Board of Education on Tuesday.
The top vote getter with 3,875 votes was incumbent Tracy Hovest, who is currently vice president of the board. Placing in close second and third places were Stephen Bateson with 3739 and Howard “Ardy” Gonyer, both with 3,738 votes.
The next candidates in line were close behind: Peggy Thompson with 3,727 votes; Brian Paskvan with 3,505 votes; Joseph Edens with 3,348 votes; Steven Goyer with 1,355 votes; and Rick Busselle (who had pulled out of the race but never officially withdrew his name) with 946 votes.
These numbers will change as provisional ballots are added in. The Wood County Board of Election’s official count will be held no later than 21 days after the election.
Hovest was ecstatic about the support she received at the polls.
“It says that I’ve been a voice for the community. I’m doing what’s best for kids, and they know it,” she said. “I’m super grateful.”
Hovest was also basking in the glow of the high school levy victory – though she is aware the work is far from over.
“We know that we need to address our elementaries. That’s got to be done,” she said. But some patience will be required. “We obviously can’t go back in the spring for another levy.”
Hovest has 24 years of teaching experience in Washington Local Schools, and has a daughter in BG City Schools.
“I want to continue to help the district forward,” she said. “We have a lot of good things going on.”
Hovest pointed at the improvements in the district’s State Report Card grades “We have really good students and really good staff,” she said.
But the work must continue to catch up after COVID.
“I feel that socially, academically our students are still recovering,” she said. “We need to close gaps.”
Bateson has broken through to win a seat on the board as a rural resident of the district. The 1986 BGHS alum, with two boys currently in the high school, believes he can restore some “Bobcat Pride” in the district.
Bateson, who lives in Liberty Township, is in the agricultural crops chemical distribution business, working with products that control weeds, bugs and diseases.
“I think I can bring a different perspective to the school board that is woefully needed,” he said.
Bateson’s priorities as a board member would be transparency and accountability. The lack of those have had a corrosive effect on the district, he said.
“People know I’ve been a vocal critic of the board and (previous) superintendent,” he said. “But people know I’m a supporter of kids and schools.”
Bateson said he wants to move on from that divisiveness. “I want to get away from the contentiousness in the district.”
The district needs to work on teacher retention and stop the loss of student enrollment to other districts. And the district should be more transparent about the costs of running schools, he said.
Though Bateson did not approve of the new high school levy issue being funded completely by property taxes, he said he will be fully supportive of the project approved by voters on Tuesday.
“The voters have spoken,” he said. “The voters clearly wanted some progress for BG City Schools.
But Bateson is concerned about what will be done to improve the learning environments at the high school before the new building is built, and he said he plans to ask some tough questions about delayed building maintenance at the elementaries.
Howard “Ardy” Gonyer plans to spend the next weeks prior to being sworn in getting an education.
“I’m excited to start learning, then jump right in feet first,” he said. “This is my listening and learning phase.”
Gonyer, who graduated from BGHS in 2004 and earned his doctorate in higher education administration at BGSU, wants to serve his hometown and help heal old wounds in the school district.
“I’m running to give back to the community, to give back to the public schools that shaped who I am,” he said.
Gonyer, co-owner of Call of the Canyon and Easystreet restaurants in downtown Bowling Green, wants to see the school district and the community thrive.
After earning his doctorate, Gonyer worked in higher education administration for about 10 years at BGSU, University of Toledo, and Ohio University.
“That taught me a lot about budgets, finance and leadership development,” he said.
Gonyer also learned about different education pedagogies and issues facing public education.
Among his goals as a school board member, are focusing on transparency and rebuilding trust between the community and the board.
“I want to try to heal the old wounds in the district,” he said. And that means having hard conversations. “I’m willing to listen to anyone.”
One of the next topics to be explored by the district should be improving the educational settings for younger students.
“We have to start talking about the elementaries,” Gonyer said.
