Hannah Emberton
Chanute’s candidate forum was held on Thursday, Oct. 23, at Memorial Auditorium, hosted by the Chanute Area Chamber of Commerce.
The event was moderated by Ross Hendrickson. Candidates gave opening and closing remarks, in addition to participating in a question and answer forum. It was livestreamed to the City of Chanute Facebook Page.
The first part of this story covered the candidates running to be elected to the Chanute City Commission. The two candidates who earn the most votes will hold a four-year term, while the third-highestranked candidate will serve a two-year term. Incumbents Tim Egner, Kevin V. Berthot, and Mayor Jacob T. LaRue are all running. Tim Harding is also on the ballot.
This portion of the story will cover the races for the Neosho County Community College Board of Trustees and the Chanute Public Schools Board of Education.
The candidates running to be an NCCC Trustee were first on the stage. Candidates include: incumbents Bryan J. Schulz, Martha R. McCoy, and Michael De La Torre. A challenger, Kathryn E. Taylor is also running.
“What experience do you bring that helps you or would help you serve as an effective member of the Board of Trustees?” This was the first question Hedrickson asked the candidates.
Taylor was the first to answer.
“As a person who has worked in education for 34 years, I think that I bring a wealth of experience. From the classroom, to building administration, to central administration, to helping with building projects,” Taylor said. She noted that she was involved with Chanute Public Schools when the current elementary and high school buildings were built.
“I think it is good to have someone who has been through some of these experiences and can share,” Taylor said. She highlighted NCCC’s ongoing facility improvements.
De La Torre said he’s only been on the board for a year. De La Torre said he took the seat left vacant by the untimely death of Charles Boaz. De La Torre has previously served on the NCCC Foundation Board and now serves on the board as the trustee representative.
“Being on there, I learned a lot about how the college was run on the scholarship side, and the fundraising side,” De La Torre said. “But nothing could replace this last year… It’s just been a learning experience.”
De La Torre said he enjoys being on the Board of Trustees because he is always learning about the college.
“I really believe that the many things that I have been able to do associated with the college — being a student, being an employee — and then going to other places, working in other universities and colleges have given me a lot of extra experience of what other colleges do,” McCoy said. “I think that has helped me to get my background so I can be a good trustee in making decisions.”
Schulz said the different boards he has served on have lent to his experience. He said he has previously served on the Farm Bureau board and the CUSD 101 school board. He also noted his seven years as chairman of Rural Water District 4.
“With the experience of being on the college board, I love it. I’m just telling you, at least I know where my tax dollars are going and it’s well spent,” Schulz said.
The next question from Hendrickson asked candidates what they thought the biggest concerns were for NCCC, and how they would address them.
“I think the biggest problem we have right now is a drop in enrollment,” De La Torre said. He said that enrollment has dropped nearly 4%.
“I think another problem is the ever-changing economy. We don’t know what career or trade would be best. It seems to be changing all the time,” De La Torre said The inconsistency of state and federal funding is also a concern for De La Torre.
“Sometimes we are not really sure when we are going to get the needed funds. I think those are the three biggest issues right now.”
McCoy said she was also worried about enrollment “At the same time, I think we have a lot of students who are coming in and they just don’t know what they want to do. We’ve got some really good advisers who are helping them figure out what classes to take, and once again, I’m glad we’re getting some trade classes. A lot of students don’t want to go to college; they just want to get a trade and go out and make money.
McCoy said grants take time to write, and then there is uncertainty if those grants will be awarded.
“It causes problems for the employees because they don’t know if they are going to have a job in the next month or so. I really am very worried about that,” McCoy said. While that is out of her control, she said she prays about it.
“I think the biggest challenge we are going to see is going to come from the state,” Schulz said. “You’ve got a lot of people who are going to run for Governor this next time that are really not fans of community colleges.”
Schulz said that voters should do their due diligence when voting for the Governor next year.
Schulz said he thought the state would force a consolidation of some schools, and said he would advocate for consolidating before being required to do so by the state.
“Inherently with a community college, the challenge to find relevant offerings as the times change, as Michael mentioned, as economics change, what is needed in a community is constantly changing,” Taylor said. “Its important for us as the Board of Trustees to keep our eyes and ears open, to know what kinds of industries are maybe courting our town, and to be ready to offer the kinds of things that our young people desire to master so they can go out and conduct their own way of living.”
Taylor said funding will also always be a challenge for community colleges, and that the board will have to monitor what the legislature is doing.
“It is a tax burden on a community to have a community college, but it is an asset. We have to sell the asset to downplay the tax burden. The fact is that communities that have community colleges do share a larger burden than those that do not have community colleges,” Taylor said. She noted that this has been a problem since the inception of community colleges.
Chanute Public Schools Board of Education candidates include incumbents Heather Guernsey and recently appointed board member Jennifer May. Challengers include Tiffany Cooney and Steven Cunningham.
Elected members
will serve a four-year term.
One question Hendrickson asked candidates was “What do you see as the most pressing challenge for USD 413, what solutions do you offer?”
Cooney said that through conversations with community members, one big challenge is the trust between the community and the school district.
“There’s just a lot of people who do not trust what is going on at USD 413 right now,” Cooney said. She said that more open and timely communication could address that.
“I agree communication is needed, but I think what is most important is our test scores and the readiness for our kids to move on,” Cunningham said. “I think the most important thing is we need to sit down and we need to realize that we do need to concentrate on a curriculum that promotes learning and I think we need to go back to teaching our kids how to learn and not what to learn.”
May said she agreed that the learning outcome for students is the biggest challenge within the district, but that many aspects that impact that are already in the works.
“What we don’t have… is a plan to move us from a vision to actual, measurable outcomes,” May said.
As a board member, she said she wants to see more from educators on how they are working to close the gap in student proficiency, along with working with teachers, administrators and parents.
Guernsey said the most pressing challenge was the lack of special education funding.
“Every year we have been on the board, we have spent a little more than $1 million of our general budget to pay for special ed. It’s needed, and we will continue to do that, not only because it is legally mandated, but because those kids deserve a quality education just like every kid in our school district does,” Guernsey said “But beause we are not getting that funding from the state and federal government, we’re having to use our general ed dollars that could go toward what everyone up here has been talking about.”
Guernsey said that the board could continue to talk with state and federal legislators, and develop those relationships.
In other county races: Erie City Council members serve a four-year term. Incumbents Stephen E. Maher, Kyle Buntin, and M. Edward “Eddie” Hibbs III are running. Daniel Quinn Mason and Jerry L. Moses are also on the ballot.
USD 101 has one candidate filed for District 2, Carla Rush, and Morgan Bunting is running for District 3. No candidate filed to run for District 1.
Elected Galesburg City Council members will serve a two-year term. Incumbents Brian Semrad and Alex Tromsness are running. Nancy Dague and Shannon Caswell are also running. No one filed to run for Galesburg City Mayor.
In Stark, incumbent Charles W. Hill is running for city council, and current Mayor Jeffrey Dean Kovacic is running to keep his position.
In St. Paul, incumbent Keith Van Leeuwen is running for Mayor. Incumbents Dan Spielbusch and Mike Grosdidier are running for city council, alongside Jason Venneman,
