CANDIDATES ARE AGREEABLE, BUT OPINIONATED ON ISSUES

MARK BAKER, MACK ILLERS, TOM LUDWIG, BRENT WILLS

Jackson R-2 voters will choose from four candidates to fill two three-year board of education positions April 4.

The four candidates met in the 12th annual American Business Women's Association Candidate Forum Monday night. They responded to a set of eight questions prepared by the ABWA, then answered several questions from the audience. KVFS-TV 12 news anchor Cave Courvoisier served as moderator.

While the candidates generally agreed on most points, a number of strong opinions were expressed.

During a question on potential conflicts of interest, incumbent Thomas Ludwig stressed that his wife being an elementary teacher in the district would create no such conflict. He also suggested that if anyone would accuse any of the other candidates of favoring their children as board members, " I think they have a right to punch you in the nose, because that's absurd."

Answering an audience question on whether a teacher's union is needed, through the National Educators Association (NEA), candidate Mack Illers was equally clear in expressing his opinion. "The NEA has a political agenda in my mind," he said, "and it stinks."

Candidates Mark Baker and Brent Wills were also forthright in expressing their thoughts on issues. Baker expressed reservations in supporting the April 4 R-2 levy/bond issue, fearing it might not leave the district with enough bonding capacity to face possible future needs.

"I support expansion," Baker said, "but I have some concerns about the capacity we're able to bond at. I understand we have a $30 million bonding capacity and that we're at $10 to $11 million right now. That leaves us at $8-10 million to bond, should the need arise in the future. I don't want to be down to $8 million if we need to spend $10 or $11 million."

Wills, meanwhile, feels the district will need to get "creative" to make ends meet if bonding capacity is met at a later date.

"It doesn't appear the growth is going to slow down anytime soon," Wills said. "Growth is going to be a major management problem. It's going to take a lot of diligence on the board's part. At times we may reach close to bonding capacity. We may have to be creative on how we educate our students."

The first question asked whether public forums should be part of the future process of communication between the board and the public. All four candidates agreed that public forums were important, but also stressed that voters should speak at board meetings and get involved in organizations such as the PTA.

"The board is not going to go to your house and ask you your opinion on things," Illers noted.

Candidates were asked for their opinions on the April 4 bond/levy issue.

"With the rate that Jackson's been growing lately, it doesn't take too long to fill up a 600-student school," Illers said. "We absolutely do need it. I realize education is expensive, but there's one thing that's more expensive -- lack of education."

"We have only two to three classrooms available in the district right now. Even at a two percent growth rate, in five years you'll have 900 additional students ," Wills said. "Whether you build any buildings or not, those 900 kids are going to have to be somewhere. The junior high and grade schools definitely need expanding."

"The tax base is not keeping up with the growth," Ludwig said. "We've held off asking voters for money, hoping it would change. It hasn't. It is easy to nit-pick this bond issue. It's easy to sit and complain about what the other guy has come up with. The new grade school is absolutely necessary. There is no choice. If you don't vote for it today, then you can vote for it tomorrow. The board did not ask for this continuous growth. The board didn't go out and recruit this growth; it's just a fact of life."

The fifth question was a bit loaded. It mentioned surprise "drug dog" searches of student lockers and asked whether "the rights of students involved in drugs outweigh the rights of students not involved in drugs." All four candidates vehemently supported the search policy.

"Students' rights are obviously important," said Ludwig, an attorney for 23 years, "but they're using your locker -- not their locker. Expectations of the school of (students) not bringing in drugs is not unreasonable."

"You bring drugs into our district, you don't deserve any rights," Baker said. "There's no need for them in the school district."

"Whenever you have children disrupting children wanting to learn, (it's needed)," Illers said. "The parents that teach discipline to their children don't have to worry about that."

"There's no place for drugs ins school," Wills said. "We do not need that environment in our schools. I have no problem with it."

The final regular question asked candidates what they see as the biggest coming problems and their solutions -- outside of the bond issue passing.

"The growth factor -- that's the number one issue and with growth comes safety (concerns)," Wills said. "It gets down to how many kids do you want in a certain area? Out at the junior high, West Lane and Orchard, there's already 1,800 close to 2,000 kids in a three-block environment

"Jackson was a very cohesive town when I moved here and was still a cohesive town when I went on the board," Ludwig said. "I'm really concerned about the problems the teachers have in classrooms. The community of Jackson used to live and die with its schools. If a teacher made a decision and said something, there was very little question about it. The fact that administrators were respected. We picked and chose who we wanted as teachers and administrators. We're starting to see ourselves become like other districts. We're starting to have the problems that I saw Cape have 10 years ago...that contentiousness. Children are coming to school not ready to learn. Instead of parents responding and supporting the teachers, the teachers are getting back talk from the parents. I'm very concerned about that issue."

"I think appropriate answers are not more than a best educated guess," Baker said. "The senior high is probably going to be the next topic to be addressed. I've heard rumors that we might need to look at a new location, on about 40 acres out somewhere. And 40 acres in this area is going to cost you and arm and a leg. The notion of moving senior high to a new location, possibly transporting the junior high to the present senior high and making an elementary school out of the junior high is an option until somebody tells me why we can't do it. I think we need to look at every opportunity we have."

"I think that the people of Jackson who have supported the school district in the past WILL vote the bond issue. They cannot vote on disciplining children. The parents have to do that. As the school gets bigger, we're going to get big city problems. We have a few of those right now -- violence, drugs, talking back to teachers. How many of you have talked back to your dad the way students talk back to teachers today? I'd be lucky to be alive today. We need discipline in this school. We need direction for these children. These children crave direction; they crave discipline. What they also crave is attention -- attention by the parents. You don't get that from a bond issue; you get that from common sense."