JACKSON SCHOOL FORUM HELD

JACKSON -- Jackson Board of Education candidates held mostly shared opinions during a forum Tuesday night to prepare voters for the April 6 school board elections.

Mark Baker, Jewell Beauchamp, Susan Farrow, Darrell Hanschen and Dr. T. Wayne Lewis all answered questions regarding how enrollment growth affects student safety, transportation, facilities, staff and other issues in Jackson schools. Vicky McDowell, who is seeking a third term in office, was unable to attend because of illness.

Three candidates will be elected to fill three-year positions held by Lewis, Hanschen and McDowell.

More than 30 people attended the forum. What they learned was that candidates were basically in agreement about many of the current and future issues the district faces due to rapid enrollment growth in recent years.

Candidates agreed that school board members must begin planning now for any new building projects. Accurate enrollment records must be kept, and growth patterns should be evaluated to determine how long the district will continue to grow.

"Sometimes growth can be a trend, so we need to determine whether this will be short term or if it will be perpetuated longer," said Farrow. "New buildings take time, and I think we have to make appropriate plans to decide whether expansion is necessary or possible."

Baker said he has seen numerous construction projects since his attendance in the school district. He said expansion is inevitable, and he believes the community will provide financial support for any building the district requires in the near future.

"We have no problem in our community with getting support for our bond issues," Baker said. "I'd hate to say build another school when we just got done building three, but it may come to that."

While construction in the district may be inevitable as classrooms and buildings become crowded, candidates said they did not anticipate the need for a new high school in the near future. Campus changes should be made as needed to accommodate enrollment growth, but the school district has a good campus that has possibilities for limited expansion, they said.

"We are committed to that area (surrounding the high school campus)," said Lewis. "I think any new high school facility would be way in the future."

Candidates supported additional security measures to improve safety on buses and in buildings and surrounding property. They supported random drug searches inside buildings and on school property. Other safety measures mentioned included criminal background checks on all school employees, increased authority to bus drivers regarding student behavior on buses, and reduced speeds on streets near schools.

"If it requires search dogs, lets go with it," said Beauchamp. "This is just one of the tools we have to deal with this."

Hanschen agreed. "Drugs are a problem, and we're naive to think we don't have them in the city of Jackson or in our schools," he said. "I think we have to do whatever is necessary to improve the safety of our schools."

The debate, held in the Jackson Middle School library, was sponsored by the American Business Women's Association Jacksonian Charter Chapter.