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School board candidates state positions at forum

Five school board candidates take part in forum event

By Deb Gau 6 min read

MARSHALL -- Rising costs, and program and staff cuts were some of the major topics that candidates for Marshall School Board weighed in on during a forum Thursday night.

Five of the six people running for school board this fall gathered at the Marshall Area YMCA to answer questions from community members and a panel moderator.

There are a total of three seats on the Marshall School Board that are up for election this fall. Six candidates are running for school board, including Julie Allen, Mike Braithwaite, current school board member Sara Brink, Nathan Green, Ashley Pippin and Bob Prince.

Five of the six candidates answered audience questions during Thursday's forum. Pippin was not present at the event.

District finances and the impact of cuts were the first issues candidates were asked about from the start of the forum. One question noted that MPS is facing financial challenges, has had two unsuccessful referendums, and has made cuts affecting classroom positions.

Candidates, including Allen, Braithwaite and Green, said that the district should work to avoid cutting classroom positions.

"When it comes to cuts, we've definitely got to look at those ones that aren't in front of our students," Braithwaite said.

"We need to look at what is best for our students, and taking classroom teachers is not, I believe, what is best for our students . . . I guess I would look at more administrative cuts," Allen said.

Green agreed, saying it was difficult for children to lose the long-lasting impact of the relationships they had with teachers.

Brink said the school board was faced with difficult decisions when it came to the district's financial challenges.

"We did try to look at all different areas. We tried to be as equitable and fair as we could, while also keeping in mind that students came first," Brink said. "I think if we had to do it over, I would probably suggest doing maybe more public forums to communicate what we were thinking about, the whys behind it.”

Candidates also emphasized the need to repair relationships between the community, the school district, teachers and administration at MPS. Braithwaite said community members were looking for transparency about the cuts and the district's financial decisions.

Prince said one of his priorities as a school board member would be to learn more about MPS and how the system worked.

Prince said he was interested in running for school board because of concerns about the quality of education children were receiving.

"Overall, nationwide, our education system is failing badly. It seems our children are not learning," especially when it came to reading proficiency, Prince said.

More than one forum question asked about costs at MPS. Candidates weighed in on the issue of administrative compensation and benefits, including fully covered health insurance.

Brink said she had not been part of the negotiations process for administration and teacher contracts. But, she said, "We’re always trying to attract high quality teachers. We’re trying to attract quality administration staff . . . We have to be competitive in those packages. So yes, our administration, that was negotiated into their contracts, and it was voted to pass."

"It's a delicate balance that we have to work out," Prince said.

Green said he would not have approved the administrative benefits.

"I feel like our student-facing folks in the district maybe are suffering a little too much there. It's total inequity," he said, when health insurance premiums for teachers had been increasing in recent years.

"I also would have easily voted no on that," Braithwaite said.

Allen said she didn't support the administrative compensation, and she was disappointed that there was not more discussion of the matter at the school board meeting before it was approved.

"The amount wasn't mentioned that he was making, and there was absolutely no discussion," she said.

Community members asked if MPS made the right call when it split up its district business manager position into two separate finance and operations positions.

"I think when that position was combined as one, it was an incredible lift for one person to do," Brink said. "So splitting it into two positions, it did make sense when we looked at what the what those roles entailed."

Other candidates said the move might have made sense from the perspective of managing employee workload. But they did have questions about the cost of having two positions instead of one.

"I understand the workload side of it, but when it comes to the financial side of it and everything, it just doesn’t make sense," Braithwaite said.

"I would probably need to see more details on that. My my gut is that I would probably with how finances are right now, I would probably like to see it as the one position," Green said.

Allen said she didn't agree with the decision, especially when teachers would have to have more students in the classroom with cuts.

One specific area of cuts that candidates were asked about was the decision to cut the Marshall gymnastics program. Green, Braithwaite, Allen and Prince all said they thought the cut was the wrong decision. Braithwaite said the gymnastics program should "absolutely not" have been cut.

"Cutting the gymnastics program, I think, was pretty detrimental to a lot of girls in our community," Green said.

He thought the program may have been cut before it was well-known how many students were taking part in feeder programs for it. Instead of eliminating the program, he said, "I feel like there were some cuts across other areas that could have happened. Perhaps everybody taking a little bit of a hit, instead of the whole program gone."

"It was a really difficult decision to make, but it ultimately came down to the cost per per student in that activity," Brink said. "And yes, there was a big group of kids coming up into the program, but it just didn't seem like there was a big number that continued on into that program, you know, into the higher grades. It was absolutely heartbreaking to make that decision and cut that program for sure. Hopefully, they can continue through the Marshall Community Services with that activity for those students."

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