Editor’s Note: As a public service to the voters of Grundy County, the Republican-Times will be printing information this week concerning candidates in contested races for the Trenton City Council, the North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees and the Trenton R-9 Board of Education. Today’s stories focus on the Trenton R-9 Board of Education candidates. Stories appear in the order candidates filed for office.
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Editor’s Note: As a public service to the voters of Grundy County, the Republican-Times will be printing information this week concerning candidates in contested races for the Trenton City Council, the North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees and the Trenton R-9 Board of Education. Today’s stories focus on the Trenton R-9 Board of Education candidates. Stories appear in the order candidates filed for office.
Johnathan Smith
Johnathan Smith of 3307 Lake Trenton Drive is seeking his first term as a member of the Trenton R-9 Board of Education. He attended grade school middle school and high school in the R-9 District and received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. He served six years in the Marine Corps Reserve and was honorably discharged as a corporal in 1997. Since that time he has worked as a state probation and parole officer for five years in the area and as a supervisor in Kirksville for two years. He is currently program director for Preferred Family Healthcare’s adult alcohol and drug program He is also pursuing his master’s degree in counseling psychology from Northwest Missouri State University at Maryville. He and his wife, the former Renea Rothermich, are the parents of two children, Zane, who is in kindergarten, and Samantha, who is in preschool. Mrs. Smith is a teacher in the Chula School District.
1. Why are you running for this positions?
I believe that Trenton is a great town to raise children in and the R-9 District offers some excellent opportunities at an education. However, the recent cuts have left the public, staff and students feeling shortchanged. I feel like the whole budget process needs to be more accessible to the general public and any changes or cuts can be more easily justified to the taxpayers.
2. What concerns or issues do you feel are facing the Trenton School District that you would like to see addressed as related to the position for which your are a candidate and how would you deal with them if elected?
The main concern facing our district currently is the budget shortfalls. I feel that when dealing with insufficient funding, the quality of education should be the paramount focus, especially in the younger grades. Additionally, when allocating the money that is available, any changes or cuts need to be shared equally across buildings, programs and extracurricular activities.
3. The Trenton School District, like other school districts, is facing budget concerns and has already made some cuts in school programs. Please discuss the budget issue and how you would address it in relation to the R-9 District (including what cuts, if any, you might suggest be made). Also discuss your priorities for monies generated by the Prop C Tax Waiver approved by voters in February.
Any money generated by the Prop C Tax Waiver should go to replacing the positions lost in the last round of cuts. The next priority, in my opinion, should be to reduce the class size, especially in younger grades, to a more practical level.
Steve Holt
Steve Holt of 172 NE Hwy O is a first-time candidate for the Trenton R-9 Board of Education. He was raised in Grundy County on a dairy farm northwest of Trenton and graduated from Trenton High School in 1969. He received a bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army through ROTC. He underwent officer basic training and airborne school at Ft. Benning, GA and was stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA with the 9th Infantry Division. After four years and attaining the rank of captain, he left the military and returned to graduate school, receiving a master’s of science degree in agricultural economics in 1977 and a master’s in business administration in 1979, both from UMC. He worked for Butler Manufacturing in Kansas City for 11 years, working in various manufacturing positions in plants in Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Canada. He was vice president of manufacturing for Canadian Building Systems in Burlington, Ontario, which was a joint venture that included Butler as one of the three partners. He became general manager of Germania Dairy Automation in 1990 and in 1992 went to work for the Wisconsin Cheeseman as assistant to the president and vice president as well as general manager of the fund-raising division and, later, the wholesale division. He and his wife, Vilma, returned to the family farm in Trenton in 1998. The Holts have been married for 22 years and have one daughter and three grandchildren who live in Illinois. The Holts raise commercial Angus cattle and some Berkshire pork as well as sell meat direct under the name of Holt-Some Beef LLC. He teaches microeconomics and macroeconomics at North Central Missouri College as an adjunct instructor. He is active in several organizations, including the Grundy County Farm Bureau, where he serves as president; vice president of the Board for Rural Water District No. 1; part-time administrator of the Grundy County Friends of the Arts; member of the Spickard Fair Board; chairman of the Spickard Barbecue Festival Committee; vice chairman of the board and superintendent of Sunday school for Honey Creek Chapel Church; member of the Thompson Research Farm Advisory Committee; member of the Trenton Area Chamber of Commerce; and member of the American Legion. He is on the Assessment Committee at NCMC and was recently nominated by a former student to “Who’s Who in American Education.
1. Why are you running for this positions?
I have been an active follower of the activities of the Trenton R-9 School Board and have commented several times in Letters to the Editor about my opinions. More recently, I was one of three co-chairs of the Proposition C Citizens Committee. Because I advocated the passage of Prop C and because the taxpayers of the school district will be paying more in property taxes because of its passage, I felt it necessary to take it one step further and become a member of the school board to ensure that our property taxes were invested wisely. Being on the school board is consistent with my goal of being involved in the community. I believe there is a need to better manage the school district and I believe with my business experience that I can help strengthen the board. I have attended the last five school board meetings and have had the opportunity for the last two meetings to see the detailed information that the current board uses for decision-making. As an adjunct instructor I am interested in education. As a former R-9 student, I’m interested in enhancing the success of our students and our community.
2. What concerns or issues do you feel are facing the Trenton School District that you would like to see addressed as related to the position for which your are a candidate and how would you deal with them if elected?
I think that one of the major concerns is credibility of the school board, which results in reduced community support for our schools. This issue needs to be addressed by making consistent decisions, seeking and listening to input from the residents and taxpayers of the district, looking out for the interests of the taxpayer as well as the students, teachers and the community and developing and improving the district’s ability to anticipate future events. Anticipation of future events can be improved by developing relationships with local and state agencies that collect, maintain and distribute information that impacts our district and by developing better local management tools. I believe the information and management tools utilized at the board level to make decisions need to be improved. Since June 2003, I feel the school district has been surprised by events that every business has to have a handle on to remain successful. For example, a week after the first Prop C ballot issue failed, the district announced it was unable to pay its bills. As a taxpayer, this doesn’t look like you are on top of what’s going on in your business.
In addition, the school district should be pursuing a goal of excellence in education that will equip our students with the ability to compete after they graduate, encourage increased employment in the area and provide a quality pool of employees. To achieve this objective, we should spend our limited dollars on what is most important and offer activities that enhance the academic experience. For example, technology is extremely important to growth, development and the ability of our students to compete in an increasingly more complex world. We need to insure that we are doing all we can in the technology area.
3. The Trenton School District, like other school districts, is facing budget concerns and has already made some cuts in school programs. Please discuss the budget issue and how you would address it in relation to the R-9 District (including what cuts, if any, you might suggest be made). Also discuss your priorities for monies generated by the Prop C Tax Waiver approved by voters in February.
At the March school board meeting, the financial picture for 2004-2005 was described as being much brighter given the additional funds generated by the property reassessment and by passage of Prop C. Putting ourselves in a better position was the reason for getting Prop C passed and we need to manage the district in a way to see that we realize that goal. I’m not going to discuss cuts because that would be inconsistent with the message that we presented in February and I don’t think the majority voted yes to be told a few months later that we need to make cuts. Again to be consistent with our dialogue on Prop C, the money generated from Prop C is to go to three areas: improving our fund balances, restoring the Career Ladder program for the teachers and looking at adding back some of the programs that had been cut.
This is not to say that the district can’t cut costs or should not continuously evaluate what we are doing in light of the benefits achieved and the cost incurred; we should be doing this all of the time. I would like to see the district have a formal ongoing cost reduction program. Some cost saving ideas were suggested at a board meeting in 2003. Some were implemented but I’m not sure all of the ideas have been reviewed. I think we should review the list again. Some of these ideas dealt with being more efficient and saving energy costs. Every business I have ever been a part of has consistently looked at reducing costs while improving the quality of the product or service it offered. These are not mutually exclusive goals.
An Open Line caller questioned if the district was adequately maintaining our current facilities to avoid a large future expense. I would like to have this question answered. We need to adequately fund current maintenance of our facilities to achieve the maximum useful life.
The focus should be on making good decisions. Cost cuts, for the most part, result from the reversal of a previous decision. I’m concerned with over-investment in physical assets that burden the district with ongoing maintenance costs. The current rush to get into an R-9-owned facility for the district office currently has $40,000 in grant money earmarked to buy real estate. How much more money will be required to renovate, relocate to and maintain the existing structures on the new real estate? It appears we may be committing the district to future expenses without a plan; this bothers me as a taxpayer. This is not a good way to manage public money or enhance credibility.
4. Any other comments.
The drive to get Prop C passed and the ensuing public debate proved that input from individuals on both sides of the issue improves the quality of decisions that are made. I learned the most from those who held a different opinion than mine. I feel what I bring to this position is an open mind, the ability learn, a willingness to listen, a wealth of experience and a willingness to ask the tough questions. I feel we should avoid problems and future cuts by doing a better job of anticipating and planning and earning the trust and confidence of the community we can implement our plans successful. I look forward to participating in putting together the 2004-2005 plan and helping to do the best we can for our students and our community.
Cass Fuller
Cass Fuller of 335 SW Hwy T is a former R-9 Board member seeking a second term. He and his wife, Lisa, are the parents of two sons, Christian, a sixth grader, and Addison, a fourth grader. He is a graduate of Huntsville, AL, High School and attended the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He is a self-taught artist and graphic designer, a profession he has been involved with for 25 years. He owns and operates Cass Signs sign shop at Trenton. He and his wife also own and operate Simple Things at Jamesport. He is a member of the Rissler PTO, the Trenton Middle School PTO, is a leader for Boy Scout Troop 97, is a member of the Grundy County Friends of the Arts Board and is a member of the Hodge Presbyterian Church, where he currently serves as an elder.
1. Why are you running for this position?
Our community’s future depends on a strong educational school system. We moved to Trenton nine years ago with our children’s future in mind. Trenton had what we were looking for. After getting involved in our community and our children’s school, I met a lot of caring and devoted teachers and school employees who were committed to the same beliefs as I was. I wanted to get more involved in helping out our district and our community’s future. I decided to run for the R-9 School Board and was elected for a three-year term in 2000-2003. After being on the school board, I quickly learned that there are a wide array of issues to deal with, each of which will directly affect in some way or another the level of quality education our students receive. I want to make sure that our community continues to reap the benefits of our students’ education. In running for this position, I am going into this with an open mind. I care deeply about our school system and our community’s future.
2. What concerns or issues do you feel are facing the Trenton School District that you would like to see addressed as related to the position for which your are a candidate and how would you deal with them if elected?
At the moment there are several important issues that concern our district, the first of which is being on the state’s financially-stressed list. It is crucial that we be removed from this list as quickly as possible. It is not healthy for our district to be in a situation which distracts our energies from the everyday running of our school system.
Second is our teachers. As a result of the state’s withholding school funds last year, the district had to eliminate several teaching positions and staff cuts. These positions urgently need to be reinstated. Having a maintainable class size for teachers is crucial in making sure that each student receives the quality education he or she needs. The quality of education our students receives hinges on our teachers. In maintaining this level of quality we must retain an exceptional teaching staff. Teachers are not just employees of the district, they are a family of caring individuals who devote their lives to the education of our students. I know of many teachers who go out of their way to make sure that a student receives what he or she needs; in most instances, without pay. They do so because they care. As a district we must let them know that we appreciate their devotion and caring.
The Career Ladder was eliminated in last year’s cuts. The Career Ladder was a way for the district to compensate the teachers for all their extra work. Not only is the career ladder a program that compensates teachers for their extra efforts, it furthers their performance in the classrooms. Although it may not be very much money, it means a lot to the teachers. Reinstating the program is a very important priority.
Third is teacher salaries. Currently Trenton R-9 is far behind the state’s current average pay scale. If we are going to retain a quality teaching staff we must be competitive in our offerings for our staff. R-9 teachers haven’t seen a pay increase for several years. As a district we have been blessed to have done as much as we can with the funds we have had to work with, but addressing this matter is very important. Furthermore, I would like to say that I really appreciate what our teachers do for our district and will work to help them in any way I can.
Fourth is programs. Our students’ experience in school should be as diverse as possible. Extracurricular activities offer our students a chance to broaden their horizons. Many of the programs we offer to our students don’t cost very much to operate, but starting and maintaining them can be difficult. Once a program has been eliminated, it is very difficult to restart. Many of the programs that we eliminated last year may take several years to reinstate. I look forward to making sure that we don’t lose any more ground than we have. The programs we offer to our students give them a chance to develop important life skills.
Fifth is administration. The backbone of a school district is its administrators. These are the people who make the system work. A board should have a healthy working relationship with its administrators; listening to their ideas and concerns and addressing them, whether it be good or bad. Working hand in hand with administrators is very important. They help the board by gathering the information needed to make the critical decisions. Making sure that we have the top notch administrators we need is an important issue to me.
3. The Trenton School District, like other school districts, is facing budget concerns and has already made some cuts in school programs. Please discuss the budget issue and how you would address it in relation to the R-9 District (including what cuts, if any, you might suggest be made). Also discuss your priorities for monies generated by the Prop C Tax Waiver approved by voters in February.
The state of Missouri’s current financial situation has wreaked havoc upon many school districts statewide, ours being one of them. The only way out was, unfortunately, to pass the Prop C Tax Waiver. Almost all of the state’s school districts have now passed this issue. The problem now is that there may not be as much state funds available due to more districts participating in the tax waiver. Because we cannot be guaranteed these funds, we must watch our spending very closely. Our district will have to scrutinize its spending until the state is able to come up with funding solutions.
4. Any Other Comments.
Our current school board has had to make many very hard decisions concerning our student’s quality of education, many of which received a lot of negative criticism from the community. Looking at our district’s current financial situation, I feel we must be very cautious in proceeding with any new spending. The key to this is having open and creative minds at work.
I have faith in our school system and the people who run it. Knowing that I can help make rational choices that will help our students and community is the reason that I am running for this position.