Candidates for Warren County School District board of directors.

When polls open Tuesday, there will be 10 candidates on ballots and one announced write-in campaign for six open seats on the Warren County School District board of directors.

Warren County is broken into three separate Regions with respect to the school board.

There are five candidates for seats in Region II, four candidates in Region III, and two, including the write-in campaign, in Region I.

Today’s story will feature the four Region III candidates – incumbent Kevin Lindvay and challengers Kristopher Hodak, Wendy MacQueen, and Daniel Sullivan – vying for two open seats, and two candidates in Region I – John Wortman and Bridget Schwab, who has announced a write-in campaign – for one open seat.

Each candidate was asked the same list of questions – with topics including the budget, reconfiguration and small schools, and transparency and openness. Candidates were also asked for issues outside of reconfiguration that are of importance to them.

Each candidate’s full answers will be posted at www.timesobserver.com.

Q: The district’s budget has ballooned over the last decade from the $65 million range to the $95 million range. This is in spite of continued, sustained declines in the number of students it serves. What actions would you propose to address that stark increase?

Kristopher Hodak: “Utilization of buildings would be the first thing I would want to address regarding budget. There are several underutilized buildings that could be consolidated to improve usage of space which would ultimately allow for the empty buildings to be put up for sale.”

“I would also like to evaluate the salaries of administration, particularly compared to similarly-sized districts in the state and realign where necessary.”

Kevin Lindvay: “We need to recognize that the overall grant money that WCSD applies for and receives has increased in the last 10 years. Last year we received $11.8 million up from $3.5 million ten years ago.”

“When the (federal COVID-relief) ESSER dollars subside, the budgetary process should go back to the standard ‘adds and deducts’ process that was used prior to COVID. This provided the board and the administration the vehicle to qualify necessary and unnecessary spending while establishing the budget.”

Wendy MacQueen: “One of the biggest ways to cut school budget expenses is to become more energy efficient. Energy costs can eat up a school budget. In fact, experts suggest that around 30 percent of a school district’s energy is not used in the most useful or efficient way possible.”

“Sell off any property that isn’t being used or lease it to a third party. While paper products are a necessity in any school setting, they also are a significant cost. And it’s not too hard to pursue cuts in this category.”

Bridget Schwab: “I would approach the district’s budget in the same way as I would approach my own household budget when the necessity of having to ‘tighten the belt’ in order to maintain a budget within our means arose. Keep the necessities and cut or make changes according to priority.”

“My number one priority is and always will be the children and their overall well-being.”

“The fact that the budget keeps growing at this pace certainly needs to be a focus in order to be responsible for our taxpayers that are not able to withstand continued increases.”

Daniel Sullivan: “The budget was honestly one of my first areas of concerns. What has been happening is obviously not working and a second opinion needs to be brought in on how the spending occurs.”

“One area of great expenditures is tuition to other districts, cyber schools and charter schools. On May’s bill it appears the school district pays approximately $948,019.27. Why are parents not choosing our school district?”

“I propose looking through every dollar that is spent down to renovations and repairs.”

“I would also suggest, possibly looking at surrounding school districts and seeing what works for them, maybe we haven’t thought of something that another school district has. These surrounding school districts are operating on less of a budget than what WCSD is and producing better results and rankings in the state of Pennsylvania.”

John Wortman: “I am going to advocate for a line-by-line, zero-based budgeting strategy. I believe that adopting this method will allow the district to examine areas where costs can be managed without impacting essential pupil services.”

“During my tenure on the Warren City Council, I have never voted for a tax increase, while supporting budgets that secured our core services. Over the course of three municipal budget cycles, I have partnered with administration and my fellow council members to discover cost saving line items. Bringing this experience to the Warren County School District will allow me to help ensure responsible management of taxpayer dollars while maintaining the integrity of student programming.”

Q: Arthur Stewart recently asked a question that can be summarized like this: “At what point is a school too small?” Projections show continued decline in the number of students. And, to date, the actual decline has far outpaced the projection. Regardless of the current board’s decision on reconfiguration, how small is too small?

Lindvay: “With the current projections, and the decline outpacing the projection there must be a balance between low class size, course offerings, and a financial factor that drives our ability to provide a balanced education. We need to provide the students of WCSD the opportunity to have the best resources available for them to become successful post-graduation.”

MacQueen: “Size is only one factor to look at in evaluating a school. The quality of the teachers and what they teach are important factors to consider, too.”

“The right size school for your child will depend on his or her needs for attention, curricular offerings, and activities.

“We cannot decide how small is too small based upon the numerous pros and cons of school sizes, small and large.”

Schwab: “There are many schools in nearby districts that are graduating students in a range of 12 to 41 students in a class and many of them are scoring higher than the WCSD academically. These schools are comparable in the teacher/student ratio, provide AP courses, band, sports and are thriving.”

“How will a consolidation affect the communities in Warren County that have lost their school? Will bullying be a factor when combining these students and how would that play into the mental health of children?”

“There are more options to be explored.”

Sullivan: “I believe the rebuttal to that is, how big is too big? What can we as a community come up with to help our schools stay open. There are plenty of ideas out in this world that are ‘out of the box.'”

“There is an idea out there that I most recently found after speaking with a community member called community schools. I would urge the district to look into these.”

Wortman: “Do schools in the Warren County School District have the ability to offer the necessary variety of courses to meet each of their students’ needs? Do schools have the enrollment to offer and maintain the extracurricular programming students deserve? Do schools have the ability to field athletic and academic teams which are critical components of the student experience for many young persons? Can the district ensure that each classroom is being instructed by an educator certificated within that subject? Possessing detailed answers to those four questions would be essential in making any determination.”

Hodak: “I believe there are several factors that play into deciding how small is too small and I do not believe there is a concrete answer. There are numerous studies that show the value of small class sizes on education and mental health. This needs to be balanced with the availability of teachers and classes as well as finances. The advancements in technology also play a role in this as there is the ability to offer remote classes to some extent. By putting a hard line on how small is too small the possibility of evaluating this against qualitative factors is limited.”

Q: Several candidates have raised concerns about openness and transparency. Are there failings in this area now? If there are, what proposals would you make to remedy the issues you see?

MacQueen: “The general public attends a meeting, hears directly what a board member says, then reads an interview in the paper and sees a different response than the one initially given. This creates confusion and distrust.”

“The general public was told originally that the MFP Reconfiguration was not about numbers or saving money or eliminating positions.”

Schwab: “The reconfiguration conversation, according to the current school board, had been brought back to the table in 2019 and yet we are just now hearing about it. Not all concerned parents and taxpayers are able to make the meetings, but I think there may be an opportunity to get them more involved if there were committees formed to communicate and be a liaison between the board and the communities.”

Sullivan: “I have seen the failure of transparency with living in Youngsville and having attended Youngsville myself. We all know that the school district has a dozen ways to communicate at the palm of their hands, yet they do not utilize all areas when communicating messages. Also, several people can attest that when emailing the entire board, it is hard to get a response sometimes, unless you email individually.”

“I believe a steering committee from each local area would be beneficial to get the word out and also hear concerns from the individual communities. These steering committees could be an extension of communication to each individual community on upcoming events, concerns and also board meetings.”

Wortman: “One area where I believe it would be important for the school board to make changes, would be through holding town hall meetings. During my council tenure, I have fought to make city information more accessible to our citizenry and also pride myself on quality constituent service. Providing the avenue for increased interaction and feedback from the public in town hall meetings with the school board could lead to greater collaboration for students, parents, faculty, administration, and staff.”

Hodak: “I believe there is a system failure as far as transparency and communication with the public. Unfortunately, there is a long history (that predates all of the current sitting board) of mistrust amongst the communities and the school board. Whether intentional or not, there is a feeling of favoritism toward the central attendance area amongst the smaller communities; however, I understand there are many factors that may not be seen by the public that play into these decisions.”

“With the availability and widespread use of technology and social media I think there are ways to provide more transparency and dialogue through these avenues. I also feel that having board meetings at locations in each community periodically would increase the engagement of these communities.”

Lindvay: “In the last 4 years of being a board member, the only time that I see the public involved is when there is a major issue. Most of the time at board meetings the administration and board members are the only people in attendance. The public relies on media to gain the information. All school board and committee meetings are open to the public and so are the agendas. The Sunshine Act requires us to deliberate, and any official action must take place in a public meeting.”

Q: Reconfiguration is clearly the dominant issue in this election cycle. If you’re elected to the board, please identify two specific issues – and corresponding solutions – that you would focus on that are NOT related to reconfiguration.

Schwab: “One glaring issue is the lack of overall morale in the schools. There seems to be an emphasis on things that divide as opposed to bringing the students and staff together.”

“Our teachers work directly with our children every day and I think that their opinions, suggestions, ideas and perspective on what they think the children would benefit from most would be a great start in fostering a movement of positivity and hopefully teacher retention as well.”

Sullivan: “It is important to our schools to have teacher retention. By doing this, we have to reach out to the current staff and work with them to find solutions on what we as a district can do to entice not only new staff to come and stay, but also current staff.”

“There seems to be a lot of spending in question. I would like to take a better look at the finances. Just like any person would do when they are looking at their household and finances.”

Wortman: “Our school board needs to take a hard look at how we can combat the high percentage of classrooms without educators certified in those subjects. Possible solutions could include adjusting current master schedules, incentivizing existing faculty to attain more certifications, and conducting an in-depth analysis of our salaries and benefits packaging to increase competitive advantage over other school systems.”

“Second, I want to continue to grow our thriving Career Center and work to help more pupils have the opportunity to engage in cooperative learning. Providing more opportunities for Warren County School District students… is of the utmost importance.”

Hodak: “One of the biggest concerns facing schools all over is the shortage of teachers. I believe that working with the teachers and union to come up with creative solutions to recruitment and retention of teachers is vital. It is obvious that things like pay, benefits, and retirement affect this but I believe there may be other considerations that could attract teachers to our area.”

“I also think that it is necessary for the board to be involved with local government to attract people to our area. The declining population directly affects all of us in many ways. By engaging with local officials, the board can provide their ideas and thoughts as well as stay informed of the current efforts and any impact to the schools.”

Lindvay: “Providing the students of WCSD more opportunity with a wider variety of electives. Continue to focus on the Warren County Career center to expand programming into other trades that are needed to support our local communities.”

MacQueen: “Teacher attraction and retention” evaluating “salaries and other compensation, preparation and costs to entry, hiring and personnel management, induction and support for new teachers, and working conditions – including school leadership, professional collaboration and shared decision-making, accountability systems, and resources for teaching and learning.”

“Student, Teacher and Staff Safety” including “hiring additional School Resource Officers – Full Time for each school; prevention or minimization of property damage in the school and surrounding areas; prevention of student injuries and even death due to violence, drug overdoses, etc.; reduction of the need for schools to call 911; shortage of emergency response in areas of attendance; reduction of the likelihood that a student will get a criminal record; increase of the likelihood that students will get the help they need.”

The current school board has set a timeline for making a decision on reconfiguration. As a result, the decision will be made, and presumably at least partly implemented, before you take office for the term you’re seeking in this election. In short, the next board will have to live with this board’s decision. What challenges do you foresee there, especially given that you will likely have to serve with people that disagreed with your position on this issue?

Sullivan: “I am foreseeing having open-ended conversations, debates and mutual understandings, tough conversations and hoping meeting at the end on a final agreement that will make our district and Warren County a better place for our community and students.”

Wortman: “Two separate seatings of Warren City Council, with members of different political parties, unanimously voted for me to serve as Council Vice-President. I have complete faith and reverence for the democratic process. If the citizens of Region 1 honor me with the chance to serve them, I will treat my colleagues with respect, listen to their perspectives, and work with them on making sure the Warren County School District is providing a strong education to our County’s children.”

Hodak: “I do foresee some definite challenges related to the addition of new board members given the current atmosphere. I’m sure that if elected I will not see eye to eye with every board member on every issue. I also know that I can hear them out, make compromises, and, when necessary, agree to disagree.”

“I think each and every person who runs for or is elected to the school board does so with the best interests of our children in mind. As such, I think that with time and a mutual understanding of each other’s positions, most of the challenges related to this transition can be worked through.”

Lindvay: “Anytime decisions take place that change you will have groups that are in support and groups that do not support the decisions that the board makes. Whatever the outcome we need to focus on providing the students of WCSD with the best possible educational opportunities that we possibly can. I am not running on one issue but with the mindset of providing all of our children a place where they can grow into successful members of our communities.”

MacQueen: “A major challenge will be getting either side to be willing to sit together and collaborate together, respectfully and truly listen to what the other is presenting and digest it. All members present and candidates for potential members all bring something to the table so to speak, each member is equal and should be presented with dignity and respect despite personal beliefs.

“I foresee the sense of ‘urgency’ to be a negative, leaving the possibility to overlook key details that need to be considered and further information and data collected. Acting hastily can have repercussions.”

Schwab: “The idea of taking on the challenges of decisions made by a previous board and/or having differing opinions and ideas as others you are serving with is not a new concept. These differences are how you collaboratively work through the challenges the board may be faced with and come to the best solutions possible. A fresh set of eyes, opinions and ideas centered around the needs of all of the students may be just the approach that is necessary to get the wheels of progress in motion.”