Thursday, October 07, 1999
School candidates tell why they run
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
To one candidate, the Cincinnati Board of Education race is about the survival of public education. To another, it's chiefly about the health of the region. Other candidates say priorities will be reversing high dropout rates and recruiting better teachers.
The six candidates competing for three open seats have different goals in their campaign to govern the 45,600-student district.
Louis Buschle of Columbia Tusculum is a certified public accountant and 10-year member of the Forest Hills school board. Former Ohio Gov. John Gilligan of Walnut Hills served six terms in Cincinnati City Council and one in Congress and now lectures at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
Incumbent Arthur Hull of Paddock Hills worked for Cinergy for more than 40 years and now is an executive with the World Affairs Council of Greater Cincinnati. Florence Newell of Roselawn is a University of Cincinnati professor and longtime volunteer in Cincinnati Public Schools.
Roy McGrath of Clifton is an accountant who has run for school board three times. Incumbent Rick Williams of North Avondale works for urban renewal at Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp. and is a longtime CPS volunteer.
There is no salary, but board members get $80 per meeting. Terms are four years; the board has seven members.
• Mr. Buschle, 54, said he plans to use his financial expertise to analyze district spending and reduce costs.
The district must hire an
internal auditor and convene an audit committee to identify cost efficiencies and implement more recommendations by Ohio Auditor Jim Petro, he said. Spending must continually be adjusted for enrollment changes, he added.
• Mr. Gilligan warns that failing schools threaten a community's health. He said school leaders must use different methods — such as a longer school day and year and more community partnerships — to improve achievement.
“The best hope today's youth have for a rewarding and fruitful future lies in education, and we're not doing that job very well now,” said Mr. Gilligan, 78. “If we fail them, they not only suffer, but the entire community suffers as well. As they fail, or we fail them, they will become an economic drag and a growing social problem.”
• Mr. Hull, 72, said he plans to focus on reforming instruction and curriculum. The district also must develop strategies to recruit teachers nationally and expand professional training. Fixing facilities, encouraging more parental participation and lobbying for more state funding are priorities.
“Education is the vehicle in which people can change their lives,” said Mr. Hull, a board member since 1996. “This school board race and this levy campaign are about the survival of public education.”
• Ms. Newell, 56, said her experience as an educator and volunteer in Cincinnati's schools would make her a good board member.
She would make community involvement and communication a priority. Recruiting nationally, hiring new teachers in the spring rather than summer and expanding professional training would improve the district's teachers, she added.
“I'm committed to the Cincinnati Public School district and I've proven it over the last 10 years,” she said.
• Mr. McGrath, who declined to give his age, is the only candidate who opposes the $24 million levy the district seeks, saying officials have mishandled money and don't deserve more.
Reducing the district's high dropout rate — 9.3 percent — is his goal. The state should tie funding to dropout rates and revoke money as districts lose students, he said.
Teachers' colleges don't adequately prepare graduates for the classroom, so professional development often is little more than remedial education, he added. “Their pay is tremendous for nine months worth of work,” he said.
• Rick Williams, 44, said one of the district's biggest weaknesses is its failure to engage the public. The school board must tap into citizens' expertise, he said, because they may have ideas and solutions the board hasn't considered.
Raising student achievement also must be the board's unequivocal priority, because the community's health hangs in the balance, he added.
“The strength of a community depends on the strength of the school system,” Mr. Williams said.
Where school board candidates stand
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School candidates tell why they run
Where school board candidates stand
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GET TO IT
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TRISTATE DIGEST
United Way campaign nearly halfway to goal
Work on new school district begins
