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Friday's Internet Edition, September 10, 2010.
Teacher’s union hosts elementary school board forum
Candidates try to set themselves apart
By Dana Edlund
Staff Writer
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The Galt Elementary Faculty Association (GEFA) held a forum for the candidates running for a seat on the Galt Joint Union Elementary School Board in the 2008 campaign.
The forum was open to the public, but primarily attended by Galt teachers. All five of the candidates, Tami Anstess, John Gordon, Erv Hatzenbuhler, Susan Richardson, and Doug Vanderkar, appeared.
The forum opened with a seven-minute introduction from each candidate. The candidates then took questions from the general audience. The GEFA stated they were not endorsing any candidate, they were providing a platform for their members and the public to obtain information.
By random draw, Tami Anstess went first.
She started by sharing she has two children, one at Marengo and one at McCaffrey. She recited her nearly eight years of volunteering at her children’s schools, her years of service as a PTA officer, including the position of president, her involvement with youth sports and scouts. Anstess has participated in the high school bond committee and the Galt elementary budget committee. She stated she has helped organize a Safety and Community Fair, and she has attended school board meetings regularly for the past seven years. Anstess emphasized her strengths as being a person who can network and unify.
“I can bring together those with a need and those that can help fill that need,” said Anstess. “My desire is that my expertise can help the students and families.”
Susan Richardson went next, stating she participates in “service learning” by teaching spinning. She said she is a mother of 10, grandmother of 11. She stated she has worked with the city and the high school to develop a Galt Youth Master Plan. This plan would see what we have in terms of services for the youth of the town, and what we need. She said renewable energy is a cause that is important to her and she would like to see solar panels on the roofs of the schools. Richardson is a member of Cities and Schools Together (CAST).
“I have a vision of the three of us (the elementary board, the high school board and the city of Galt) communicating more and working together,” said Richardson.
Next, to speak was Doug Vanderkar.
He first thanked the teachers for being “the life blood” of the district. He stated he has two children, one attending River Oaks and one at McCaffrey. He said they are the reason he is running for a seat on the board. He has volunteered in the River Oaks music program, classrooms, science camp and field trips.
Vanderkar works in public transportation and has experience managing a department, working with bargaining units and budgets. He has lived in Galt more than five years and said he has watched the district struggle with academic achievement and reconfiguration. Vanderkar said communication between the district and families is the number one issue.
“Creativity is important,” said Vanderkar. “We need new ideas on the board, we need to think outside the box.”
John Gordon was the next to address the audience. He has children attending schools on both the east and west side. He shared that it is important to help the student transition from elementary to middle school, and then to high school. Gordon stated he works for the state, in a job where he sees many school districts. He said it is necessary to look at other districts to see what is working, and how other districts are handling problems similar to ours, like declining enrollment. Gordon believes the school board needs to be a community leader and it needs creative solutions.
“We have to be creative,” said Gordon. “We are asking teachers to do more with less. I’m not hearing that the election is about the kids; I’m hearing it’s about communication. We need to remember the kids.”
Erv Hatzenbuhler, the last candidate to speak, started by reminding the teachers he had been around longer than most of them. He was first elected to the school board 15 years ago. He said he is running first for the teachers, and second for the students, because without good teachers we do not have good students. He said the reconfiguration process was tough, and he had spent many nights thinking about the best solution.
Hatzenbuhler said that the restructuring saved the district one million dollars, and saved jobs. He said being on a school board is about listening to everyone and, as a group, coming to a decision.
“I hear all these grandiose ideas, but you don’t even know what running a school board is about,” Hatzenbuhler told the three newcomer candidates. “When you have kids who don’t speak English and they need to meet API goals, well good luck.”
When asked about new ideas to improve communication between parents and the school district, the candidates had many ideas.
Richardson stated she has people send her information, and she does her own research using the Internet.
Vanderkar said the districts Web site is under utilized and often out of date. He suggested using e-mail and the new district phone tree to get information to the parents. He said that school board members need to be out at events, PTA, and teacher’s meetings.
Anstess said it is important to ask the school staff how they are doing, and what issues are affecting them. She agreed the district needs to build up its Internet usage, updating the Web site and using e-mail effectively. She said it would cut down on the cost of paper and ink, if some families choose e-mail as their preferred form of communication.
Gordon also believes in using e-mail, and Hatzenbuhler said he thinks the board is trying to communicate the best they can, but “with a district of 3,500 students, it’s hard.” He said there is a chain of command, teachers need to tell their principals what they want from the board, and they need to come to school board meetings.
Hatzenbuhler then said parents were notified of the reconfiguration process through notices sent home with the students. The teachers pointed out those notices arrived in many of their classrooms late in the day before winter break began, and many students were not present to receive the notices.
One teacher said she has worked for the district for 20 years, and she has never seen morale so low. She asked what the candidates would do to improve morale.
Hatzenbuhler said the “teachers just need to hang in there” because things are “tough all over.”
Gordon reported it would be his job to help the teachers, and he would ask how could he assist them. Vanderkar said you need to be creative; you can find little low-cost ways to show appreciation.
Anstess said we need a more family atmosphere between the school staff and the families, because “we are all feeling the financial crunch,” and Richardson said people want money to be appreciated. She said she thought the principals were boosting the teachers’ morale and she was “sorry that your principals aren’t doing those things.”
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