Wednesday, October 14, 2009

 

ThisWeek

 

David J. Cross

 

All six candidates running for the Columbus school board’s three full-term seats stress the need for more parental involvement in the education of their children.

 

Columbus voters will cast ballots Nov. 3 to fill three four-year terms, as well as an unexpired term left open by the resignation of former school board president Terry Boyd.

 

Three write-in candidates are running for the unexpired term.

 

For the three full-term seats, the names of Hanifah Kambon, board member Ramona Reyes and Mike Wiles will appear on the ballot. Write-in candidates seeking a full term are Tracy Broaddus, Bill Buckel and Thomas Ruff.

 

Kambon, 57, is a former district teacher. As with the other five candidates, she said parental involvement is crucial to the district’s success. She is running on the theme “connected to be effective.”

 

“In this day and age I really believe in bringing in community resources,” Kambon said. “I really want to create what I’m calling family-friendly schools, where parents as well as concerned community persons can go in and assist school administrators.”

 

She said the district’s biggest challenge is improving its state report card rating of “effective” — essentially a C grade.

 

Kambon said she wants to target schools with poor state report cards and have more teacher development.

 

Reyes, 40, was appointed to the board in January to replace W. Carlton Weddington, who was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives.

 

A human resources specialist at Nationwide, Reyes said the district needs more mentors and tutors. She wants to increase school safety and continue working toward the district’s goal of a 90-percent graduation rate by 2012.

 

Wiles, 54, said the current board does not represent voters.

 

“For years, they gave us lip services and talked a good game and have never done anything,” he said. “When I elect a public official I expect them to represent me and represent an issue.”

 

Wiles, a truck driver, said he wants to create an education commission for each school that would act as an advisory council.

 

“You hear a lot of getting parents involved, but (the district) only wants to involve parents when it benefits them,” Wiles said, specifically noting levy and bond campaigns.

 

Broaddus, 48, is a social worker for the Franklin County public defender’s office. He said he wants more social workers and guidance counselors in the district and said the district needs to apply more social science to education.

 

There must be more community involvement if students are to succeed, Broaddus said.

 

“A lot of people want to put a lot of emphasis or a lot of pressure on the children, but I think as adults we have to be leaders of the children,” he said.

 

Broaddus said the city could seize abandoned properties and provide low-interest houses to new teachers to attract people to the district.

 

“I think we need to think out of the box a little bit,” he said.

 

Buckel, 80, wants to create “quality assurance councils” at schools, which would be a group of elected residents tasked with ensuring that students receive an appropriate education.

 

A retired librarian at Battelle, Buckel said the district’s main problem is that it is too large to manage.

 

Ruff, 59, said the district has severe communication issues.

 

A legal assistant for a local law firm, Ruff said taxpayers do not know what the district is accomplishing.

 

“As a taxpayer you want to know where your money is going,” Ruff said. “The problem is that the taxpayers are not being involved with the decisions being made.”

 

Ruff said if the district did a better job communicating with parents, it might spark more enthusiasm and involvement.

 

“The problem we have with the school system is that the kids are not getting the education we expect from them because the parents are not involved,” Ruff said.

 

dcross@thisweeknews.com