Politics

Q&A: School Board

By Bill Moss, Published: October 24, 2016

Here are candidates’ answers to questions at a School Board forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters on Thursday, Oct. 13. School Board candidates are Michael Absher, Ervin Bazzle (incumbent), Jared Bellmund, Mary Louise J. Corn (incumbent), Blair Craven, Burt Harris, Josh Houston (incumbent) and Rick Wood (incumbent). Corn, who was unable to make the forum because of a previous commitment, answered the same questions in a later interview with the Hendersonville Lightning.

What are the strengths of the school system?

HOUSTON: No. 1 is our teachers. I’d like for them to have more voice. I do believe we’re working on that but I think it should be more bottom up. No. 2 would be fiscal responsibility. I thought we needed more transparency and we’ve received that. We have a great finance department. … No. 3, is our leadership, the senior staff.

WOOD: First our teachers. They’ve done a tremendous job under a lot of difficulties. Our leadership — I’ve been really pleased with the job that they have done. And finally I’d say our School Board. I think our School Board as a whole even though we’re kind of diverse, we work together well I think.

BAZZLE: They do a tremendous job in good times and hard times. It takes work on their part to train the teacher. Our leadership has to train our teachers as we move forward into technology and move forward into new areas in our curriculum.

CRAVEN: I think one of our best resources are our parents. Parents that are there involved in their children’s school is definitely a strength of this community. No. 2, the kids. The kids are doing a great job. We’ve No. 4 in the state. We can always do better but without the kids buy-in it’s not going to happen. Also the community that we have. Our community is really giving and our community makes the school system what it is.

ABSHER: I have to say teachers, but I also have a different aspect. They actually care for the student all the way down to their personal life. They don’t get paid to make sure they brush their teeth or anything like that but our teachers really do care about each kid and making sure they’re perfect every time they come into their classroom. … I’d also have to say our custodians and bus drivers. Without them our schools would look really nasty and we wouldn’t have any kids at school.”

HARRIS: I agree that the No. 1 strength of our school system is our students. Having known and raised generations of students in my own house and in my kids’ house I am remarkably impressed with the students today. Part of it is their access to the Internet which other kids didn’t have. Our kids are resilient, they’re smart, they’re savvy and they’re willing to work and when the find something that they’re passionate about there is absolutely no stopping them. The second thing that I think is a strength if the variety of curriculum that our school system offers.

BELLMUND: There are a number of assets. The No. 1 competitive advantage is professional development to make sure we’re retaining the best of the best. After that is definitely the parents for me, something I’ve been personally engaged in. I’ve never not been overwhelmed by parents, whether it be making copies for teachers or brining in bagels. And community, things like United Way working in our schools.

CORN: Our staff, our parents and community support. We’ve done a great job of training our own and you just can’t ask for better community support.

How do you set priorities when the budget is cut where to do you cut?

BAZZLE: There are two parts of the budget, which has to do with salaries, supplements, medical care, those things. Any new program that you have would come within that framework. The second part is capital. Capital has to do with buildings, maintenance, anything thing other than major construction. Within that, we’ve added technology, putting it on a separate basis, so they couldn’t lump it with capital. Part of that is set by what the state does about salaries.

CRAVEN: I think it’s just like a family budget where you’re not bringing in as much income as you were before. You have to make sure that we’re cutting non-essential programs, that we’re keeping our buildings intact. But we have to do it in a tactful way. One thing I’ve been able to do is run a fiscally conservative financial practice here in town. We just have to make sure that we have essential goals, we have aspirational goals and that we have goals that you would like to attain.

ABSHER: A lot of these recommendations come from the administration as to priorities that they have. I would never be for laying off teachers or anything like that. It’s a hard thing to figure out what you’re going to cut but once you see a line-by-line budget it would be interesting to see how to cut the money there.

HARRIS: The budget is developed by the central office staff and then submitted to the board for approval or for revision. And then once the board approves it goes to the commissioners, which historically have been granting a little less than the request although this year they did do the full request. I don’t know where I would start. The problem with the budget is that it’s couched in educational jargon … I’m not prepared to answer your question except to say in a $125 million enterprise you know that there are lots of nooks and crannies where there’s money not using properly and could be used for other programs. It’s there. That’s where I’d look.

BELLMUND: It’s a hard thing to say. No one wants to spend less money on education. Are there extra things we can cut? I think that’s where you start. You just got to look at those little things that will not hurt the academic side.

CORN: We tried not to have to RIF anyone and actually let people go so a lot of the budget cuts we wound up just not rehiring when people just retired or maybe moved. Those are budget cuts where you have no option. Other places you can cut a little bit here and there on supplies or you don’t get to do new initiatives. We were fortunate that the commissioners gave us that additional $600,000 for technology. In terms of those budget cuts, we had our fund balance grow a little bit so we had just a little bit of flexibility there.

HOUSTON: No. 1, there’s some numbers being thrown around. We may have a $120 million budget but understand that a little over $20 million is county controlled that would technically be controlled by the School Board. The majority of the rest comes from the state, about 8 or 9 percent from federal government. An example (of cutting) may be technology. We agreed as a board to send a full funding request but that wasn’t available at the time so we did a four-year plan. We’ve had a good working relationship recently. Outside of this budget, we’re still looking at $100 million worth of building.

WOOD: Several years ago we had a mandated cut of 7 percent by our county commissioners and we had to make some really tough choices of what to cut. We cut some in athletics, which is where I had a background, in coaching. It hurt to do that because I think athletics is a part of education. We had to make choices. But I think that what was most important in making those choices is what is best for the students academically. We tried to keep our teacher assistants because they’re vitally important, especially in the elementary grades.

Should Henderson County continue to have nonpartisan School Board elections?

CRAVEN: In any election I really think it’s difficult to be nonpartisan. People generally want to know what you believe overall as a person. So in the buildup to the election I think it’s impossible to be nonpartisan. But when the election’s over and you cross over into the School Board realm politics is not going to work. Politics is not going to make the decision. Yes, I would like for it to be nonpartisan but I don’t believe it’s possible.

ABSHER: I believe it should be nonpartisan. During the election a lot of people do want to know what your foundational beliefs are. I do believe that the public should have the right to know about that. But also not to make a huge stink about it. We are elected for the people and by the people so it shouldn’t matter what party you are if you’re serving them.

HARRIS: There’s no such thing as a Republican or Democratic way to run the schools or a Republican or Democratic education. I’m satisfied with the nonpartisan election. However, any organization or group should have the ability or the right to endorse any candidate that they feel agrees with their group’s beliefs and then let the voter decide whether that’s right or not. … I think the School Board election should be a campaign of issues and ideas and not one where the candidates run against one another. I certainly don’t feel that I’m running against any of my worthy opponents. I’m running for the School Board.

BELLMUND: I believe that the School Board election should be nonpartisan. I don’t believe that my foundation is rooted in the letter after my name. I think it’s going to be rooted in the way I spend my time and my efforts and my energy. I’ve spent a lot of time in schools listening to parents, listening to students. I continue to work with the community, to work with businesses to get them engaged in schools and that’s where I stand — not the letter after my name.

CORN: Yes, I definitely think we should continue having nonpartisan election. I’ve said this previously that there’s not any decision that we make about students in our schools that I feel like should be influenced by party affiliation. They should all be nonpartisan.

HOUSTON: I would love to say nonpartisan. So many things that we do are nonpartisan. There are something, though, that are partisan. I’ve dealt with complaints from parents about one-sided articles, not in civics class but in a third reading class. I’m against some of the things the North Carolina School Boards Association stands up for and they’re supposed to be nonpartisan but they’re partisan. I don’t think I should have a say to vote for a resolution that’s against opportunity scholarships. Just because Henderson County schools are great doesn’t mean Scotland County or Robeson County’s are. I try to hold myself to Henderson County School Board policy: “Refrain from using the School Board member’s position on the board for personal partisan gain.” You should not seek a higher office while you’re on the board.

WOOD: My own record is that I strongly believe we should continue to have nonpartisan School Board elections. I think it’s important that we look at what’s best for the education of our children, not what’s best for our political party. I think it’s unfortunate in Henderson County that for the last three School Board elections one party has chosen to be partisan and endorsing. I don’t blame our School Board candidates as much as I blame the leadership of the party for making it partisan.

BAZZLE: In the early 2000s I changed by political party to independent for a specific reason. No. 1, neither party defined the things that I believe in. I believe the people of this community should investigate the candidates and look at what they’ve done to determine what to think. It’s too easy to go by a label, without making a determination of the qualifications of a candidate. It doesn’t bother me if one party endorses someone. That’s different. But I believe once you cross over that line and become elected you certainly become nonpartisan.

Yes I def think we should continue have. Ther’s not any decision that we make about students in our schools that should be influenced by party affilciation.

Should the school system have a nurse in every school?

HARRIS: There should be a nurse in each school. People will say that there isn’t enough money. I say, Go find the money. I have talked to teachers. One teacher told me that she has to give an insulin injection to one student three times a day. And her question for me was about the reaction to an insulin injection. I could have given her a one-hour lecture on that but what I told her was you have business doing that and it may be against the medical practice act of North Carolina. You should go tell your principal you’re not going to do that anymore. There’s no substitute for a nurse.

BELLMUND: There needs to be someone in each school to take care of our kids. There’s no reason that teachers and administrators should be administering medicine and taking care of the medical needs of our kids. They do it willingly and lovingly but it shouldn’t be a required thing fo our teachers to take away from the education in the classroom. As far as money for it. There’s money out there. The community wants to support our schools. If our community knows that that happens I promise you our county commissioners would change their minds.

CORN: We need more nurses and there may come a time when we need one in every school. But I think that we could have a nurse serving two or three schools if they are close in proximity, and if our numbers do not increase. So right now, no, I don’t think it’s necessary. I do think we need more because nurses can’t go from the east side the west side and do much helping of those students but I’m not sure we need one in every school.

HOUSTON: It’s tough to find the funding. Recently I admit I was not aware that teachers were having to give shots and I was strongly corrected by a teacher. That’s something that needs to be done by a (medical) professional. We need to find a partnership with all the hospitals we have in the area or something similar.

WOOD: I think we need to have a goal to have nurse in every school. I don’t have an easy answer but I know we’ve got to work to find a way somehow. We’ve just got to work with the county, with partnerships, with whatever to do this because we should not be having our teachers administering medication and giving shots.

BAZZLE: This topic has been around a long time. We’ve argued about it. I remember the first time when we had an interim superintendent back in the ‘90s who was told directly by the county: You have a choice. You want a teacher or a nurse. The choice shouldn’t be that. We’ve worked with different agencies. We have clinics where we didn’t have them before. Every time it’s been pushed it’s been the School Board pushing it.

CRAVEN: I was there (at a forum) when I found out a teacher did give insulin shots to her student and I could not believe it. My wife is program director at a child advocacy center here in town. They do a great job of finding grants, working with Blue Ridge Community Health, working with the Health Department, working with Pardee. We need to become a little bit more creative in putting those nurses in our schools.

ABSHER: We may have seven school nurses but we also have six school-based health centers so in actuality we have more nurses available. I serve on the school-based health center advisory board. There has been talk about trying to get grants to open up more school-based health centers but also, too, with the school-based health centers they are shared. They have multiple nurses on hand to be split up in times of need. Hillandale has a school-based health center. That school-based health center does serve Hillandale, Atkinson, Flat Rock and East.