Delta candidates raise school issues: finances, declining student enrollment

Five candidates are vying for three seats on the Delta school board as the small district faces financial and declining-enrollment challenges.

Incumbents James "Jim" Gloth and Meredith Cox Scherer are seeking re-election to three-year terms. They are challenged by Amy White.

Board member Matt Huffman faces a challenge from former Delta Mayor Evelyn Nussbaum for a one-year term.

Gloth, in emailed responses to a Southeast Missourian questionnaire, identified finances and declining enrollment as biggest challenges facing the school system. The district has fewer than 300 students.

"School board and administration working together with teaching staff to implement the very best curriculum program possible for our district" would provide students with the best possible education and help address declining enrollment, Gloth wrote.

Jim Gloth

He added a new school administration "will give us more control and accountability" of district finances in the future.

Scherer, a speech-language pathologist, has served on the school since 2016.

She wrote in an email "Delta School District is making improvements each year with curriculum, courses offered and student achievement."

Scherer added, "I am very excited to see what next year brings for us with new administration and staff to help us reach our goals."

According to Scherer, the school board has worked hard to set goals and a vision for the district.

She wrote, "We have also focused on student achievement and success for all students at Delta R-V, as well as ensuring we adopted a fiscally sound district budget."

Huffman, an auto technician from Crump, wrote in an email "the biggest problem that Delta and most other small school districts face is how to control spending and still provide a quality education."

According to Huffman, "The best way to control spending is first accept that you are a small district and then look for creative options to provide the quality education our students deserve such as online training versus hiring more staff."

Huffman emphasized his experience on the school board. "Our district is going through a transition period with a new administration and I feel the district would be best served having a board that is experienced to help guide the new administration," he wrote.

Nussbaum, who previously served on the city's Board of Aldermen, wrote she doesn't know of all the issues facing the school district. "I am willing to work on finding a solution for issues that arise."

She added, if elected, she would look at the school system as a whole. "I will not be focused on just one part of the system. I feel I will be able to look at what the issues are at hand and make good judgments."

All four candidates who responded to the questionnaire stressed the need for good communication between the school board and district residents.

The Southeast Missourian made repeated attempts to contact White, the fifth candidate, by phone and email over the course of several weeks with no success.

The newspaper emailed the candidate questionnaire to White. She did not respond.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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