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CommunityCandidates hash out issues
Friday, Feb. 1, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by DARWIN WEIGEL
The Calvert County Republican Club held a board of education candidate dinner and forum Tuesday at the Mamma Lucia restaurant in Prince Frederick in preparation for the Feb. 12 primary election. Eight of the nine declared candidates turned out. From left are Patrick Flaherty, Matt Swanson, Culver Ladd, John Eckstine, Rané Franklin, Tracy McGuire, Bill Chambers and Freeman Dodsworth.
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The Calvert County Republican Club hosted a non-partisan dinner and forum at Mamma Lucia in Prince Frederick on Tuesday night where all candidates appeared, except for Rose Crunkleton, who was unable to attend.
Come the end of the year, three seats at the board of education will be available as President of the board Frank Parish of District 1, member Robert Gray of District 2 and Vice President Mary Garvey of District 3 finish out their terms. Gray and Garvey are term limited, having served three terms, and Parish has declined to run again.
Four people are running for Parish’s seat in District 1 — Bill Chambers, John Eckstine, Patrick Flaherty and Culver Ladd.
During Tuesday’s forum, Chambers emphasized the need for Calvert County to have ‘‘the best and brightest teachers and support staff.” Chambers also emphasized providing the latest technology for the classroom.
Eckstine said that he is not a politician and had no real agenda. He said he would listen to citizens and be fair and equitable as a member of the board of education.
Flaherty said he wanted to retain ‘‘our outstanding teachers and support staff,” and raise education and teaching standards.
Ladd said he would be bringing many years of education experience onto the board of education. Ladd taught for several years in Thailand. He said among his concerns is the way money is handled in the school system. Ladd said he would bring organizational ideas to help with costs at the school system.
Vying for Gray’s seat in District 2 are Freeman Dodsworth, Rané Franklin and Tracy McGuire.
Dodsworth said he is a father of two young children in the school system and that is the main reasoning behind his decision to run.
‘‘I feel compelled to run,” he said.
Dodsworth emphasized Tuesday that math and reading are important in school but it is not the most important as high stakes testing schools appear to convey. Dodsworth also emphasized a need to get students one hour of physical activity a day.
McGuire said her experience with parent teacher associations, military work and volunteering have prepared her for a role on the board of education. She emphasized clearer policies and procedures and a better line of communication among teachers, administrators and parents. McGuire said these three components were like a tri-pod and if one leg were to crumble, ‘‘the child suffers.”
Franklin emphasized high stakes testing when she said, ‘‘No particular test should be the measure of what a child can achieve.” Franklin comes from a teaching background.
She emphasized getting teachers back to what they do best, which is teaching rather than prepping students for a test. Franklin also emphasized that she would pay particular attention to the needs of parents and students and also pay close attention to how money is spent.
The Calvert County Board of Education is currently reviewing a draft of the $186 million 2009 operating budget. With that in mind, Gray posed the question to all candidates as to how they would address the two funding sources from which the school system draws — state and county — and how they would continue these relationships.
Chambers identified the current funding formula the board of education has with Calvert County Board of County Commissioners to help ensure a minimum increase of funding each year based on student population growth.
Chambers said this was a good concept but may need to be looked at again. He suggested tapping into grant funding as a source for more cash.
Franklin agreed with this as she recognized a shortfall coming from state allocations in coming years.
Other candidates agreed and added more thoughts such as Dodsworth, who suggested turning innovations into dollars, and Flaherty, who suggested cutting out middle men such as the warehouses the school system has. According to Flaherty, shipments are brought to warehouses only to have the items then distributed to schools. Flaherty suggested cutting out the warehouse and having the distributors take supplies right to the schools.
Talk of money quickly turned to talk of teachers as Franklin spoke of putting more certified teachers who are in other positions around the school system back into the classroom.
McGuire agreed with this idea and said there were many jobs devoted to testing that qualified teachers hold right now rather than teaching.
‘‘There are so many jobs in the schools that you never even heard of before ... free up teachers that right now are retrieving data,” McGuire said.
Ladd said he would be curious to know just how many teachers are certified and not in the classrooms.
Flaherty said teachers’ creativity is being stifled.
‘‘We need to untie their hands,” he said.
Freeman agreed with Flaherty and said teachers were being bound because all they can do is prepare for tests.
‘‘They have an energy that is being crushed,” he said.
Ladd also addressed the need for affordable housing as it is causing many qualified new teachers to search for jobs elsewhere.
Swanson wanted to see more certified teachers in the classroom teaching what they are qualified to do.
‘‘It’s a waste of time and a waste of a degree,” said Swanson of not having certified teachers back in the classroom.
Swanson also advocated for police in schools when Calvert County States Attorney Laura Martin asked about safety in schools.
Swanson, who is 19, said he is concerned not only about bullies and drugs, but about the potential for outside people coming in and causing trouble.
Chambers said he is concerned about the easy access the public has to each of the schools. He said at any given time anybody can enter the schools and anybody can exit.
McGuire said bullying needs to have policies and procedures beyond the zero tolerance adopted by the school system. ‘‘That just means everyone gets in trouble and the bully doesn’t care,” she said of the zero tolerance policy.
McGuire said many policies had good concepts but faulty procedures.
Franklin also said bullying needed to be addressed and policies on the matter needed to be revisited.
Anita Jazwinski of Dunkirk questioned the responsibilities of the board members. Gray explained that the board members were overseers of the school system, hired the superintendent and made suggestions to the superintendent.
After the forum, Jazwinski said she wasn’t sure ‘‘candidates were aware of what they would do as a board of education member.” She questioned the candidates on their abilities to follow through with their plans.
One thing Freeman said throughout the forum and was repeated by most candidates Tuesday night was that no matter what, the children come first.
