Bailey, Robinson seek district 3 seat
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
About 30 people attended the 1-1/2-hour event to hear what the candidates had to say about school finances, the elementary school building project and other issues. The forum was sponsored by the American Association of University Women and Warsaw Community Education Association.[[In-content Ad]]Initially, the candidates were separated into different rooms for each district. With the low turnout, the candidates were ushered into one room.
Each candidate was given five minutes for an opening statement. They had three minutes for each predetermined question, and three minutes for any question asked by the public. They closed with two minutes each for ending statements.
For the District 3 race, Herb Bailey is running against incumbent Dan Robinson.
In his opening statement, Bailey said he and his wife, Sarah, of 13 years had two daughters. He was born and raised in Warsaw and graduated from Warsaw Community High School. He started his own business 10 years ago as an architectural consultant.
People have asked him why he decided to run. Bailey said that besides wanting to make a positive contribution to the community, he thinks he has something positive to contribute to the building program.
The second reason, he said, is because he is concerned about the relationship perceived to exist between the school board and the school corporation employees. If the animosity exists, it affects job performance and the way Warsaw Schools is perceived by others in Indiana.
"Right now, Warsaw doesn't have the reputation I think it deserves," Bailey said.
He said he thinks a couple of things could help the situation. The school board needs to trust the people they hire to do their jobs, and facilitate more and better communication with them.
Robinson and his wife, Cheryl, have been married for about 30 years, he said, and have three children and five grandchildren. He is the president of Robinson Construction and has done construction his whole life.
His present term, he said, has been interesting. He decided to run for the seat because he feels he has the opportunity to make changes. The current school board has made changes during his present term, though not everything always turns out the way they hoped.
Answering the first predetermined question from the AAUW, Robinson said he will participate in trying to select good administrators to help ensure that excellent teachers and administrators are teaching all students. He said the board needs to establish good policies and hold the administrators accountable for their actions.
Bailey responded he'd provide a great working environment for teachers and staff. Just as important is creating trust and openness so teachers and administrators can concentrate on their jobs. Also, he'd make sure the proper procedures are in place.
As for making sure a rigorous curriculum is provided for all students, he'd talk to the teachers. They're in the classroom every day.
To provide for equitable facilities for all students, he said that is part of the reason for the current building project. The building project includes building new Leesburg and Madison schools, and improving and renovating Jefferson and Claypool schools. Bailey said he doesn't necessarily agree with the current building project 100 percent, but it needed to be done. It should have been done before now.
For the second question, provided by the WCEA, Bailey said his first priority is retaining the best possible staff. That can overcome any obstacles the school corporation has.
Secondly, is providing the best facilities, and third would be to find alternate sources of funding for extracurricular activities.
Robinson listed his first five priorities. They included maximizing funds available for instruction and teacher materials, maintenance of existing facilities, utilities, transportation and new/upgraded facilities.
For the third question, from the Times-Union, Robinson said if the school board is faced with budget cuts, they would consult with Warsaw Schools Chief Financial Officer Kevin Scott. Scott then would go to each of the schools and ask the principal for places they could cut. The principal would then ask the teachers, and once all the information was presented, Scott would present the information back to the school board.
Robinson said he'd have to look at postponing capital projects. By law, the board has to take care of existing bonds. He also said he'd look at postponing non-critical maintenance, conserving utility costs and the board this year initiated an energy savings guarantee contract.
If further cuts were needed, he'd look at reducing administrative costs, postponing bus replacement, cutting programs and lastly reducing the work force. "I hope we don't get there," Robinson said.
Bailey said the state is in the process of taking over a bigger part of schools' budgets. As an outsider, Bailey said it would be hard for him right now to make specific cuts. However, in general, he said facing spending cuts, things need to be done. He'd evaluate where the money was going and see if there were more efficient ways to spend the money or other means to fund items. Third, Bailey said, he'd spread any budget cuts as widely as possible so not one area is hit excessively.
During public questions, WCHS junior Todd Eastis said the high school's hallways are crowded and the cafeteria is majorly overcrowded. Violence has broken out and student moral is low. Eastis asked the board what they could do to help.
Bailey said he understands the school is crowded, but the elementary schools' situation is tougher right now so they need to be addressed first. The high school will have to be addressed though.
As far as violence goes, Bailey said that needs to be addressed if it's true. His daughter just graduated from Warsaw last year and he never heard of any violence at the high school while she was there, he said.
Robinson said, "We hope, No. 1, nothing serious does happen." He said he has nieces and nephews who have graduated from Warsaw and they have told him there are some areas at the school where they don't feel safe going during the day.
He said he asked former superintendent Dr. Robert Haworth to check into it, but Robinson did not know if the situation improved. Robinson said they expect the school resource officer to do his job in helping address any issue, but if not, they want to hear about it.
About 30 people attended the 1-1/2-hour event to hear what the candidates had to say about school finances, the elementary school building project and other issues. The forum was sponsored by the American Association of University Women and Warsaw Community Education Association.[[In-content Ad]]Initially, the candidates were separated into different rooms for each district. With the low turnout, the candidates were ushered into one room.
Each candidate was given five minutes for an opening statement. They had three minutes for each predetermined question, and three minutes for any question asked by the public. They closed with two minutes each for ending statements.
For the District 3 race, Herb Bailey is running against incumbent Dan Robinson.
In his opening statement, Bailey said he and his wife, Sarah, of 13 years had two daughters. He was born and raised in Warsaw and graduated from Warsaw Community High School. He started his own business 10 years ago as an architectural consultant.
People have asked him why he decided to run. Bailey said that besides wanting to make a positive contribution to the community, he thinks he has something positive to contribute to the building program.
The second reason, he said, is because he is concerned about the relationship perceived to exist between the school board and the school corporation employees. If the animosity exists, it affects job performance and the way Warsaw Schools is perceived by others in Indiana.
"Right now, Warsaw doesn't have the reputation I think it deserves," Bailey said.
He said he thinks a couple of things could help the situation. The school board needs to trust the people they hire to do their jobs, and facilitate more and better communication with them.
Robinson and his wife, Cheryl, have been married for about 30 years, he said, and have three children and five grandchildren. He is the president of Robinson Construction and has done construction his whole life.
His present term, he said, has been interesting. He decided to run for the seat because he feels he has the opportunity to make changes. The current school board has made changes during his present term, though not everything always turns out the way they hoped.
Answering the first predetermined question from the AAUW, Robinson said he will participate in trying to select good administrators to help ensure that excellent teachers and administrators are teaching all students. He said the board needs to establish good policies and hold the administrators accountable for their actions.
Bailey responded he'd provide a great working environment for teachers and staff. Just as important is creating trust and openness so teachers and administrators can concentrate on their jobs. Also, he'd make sure the proper procedures are in place.
As for making sure a rigorous curriculum is provided for all students, he'd talk to the teachers. They're in the classroom every day.
To provide for equitable facilities for all students, he said that is part of the reason for the current building project. The building project includes building new Leesburg and Madison schools, and improving and renovating Jefferson and Claypool schools. Bailey said he doesn't necessarily agree with the current building project 100 percent, but it needed to be done. It should have been done before now.
For the second question, provided by the WCEA, Bailey said his first priority is retaining the best possible staff. That can overcome any obstacles the school corporation has.
Secondly, is providing the best facilities, and third would be to find alternate sources of funding for extracurricular activities.
Robinson listed his first five priorities. They included maximizing funds available for instruction and teacher materials, maintenance of existing facilities, utilities, transportation and new/upgraded facilities.
For the third question, from the Times-Union, Robinson said if the school board is faced with budget cuts, they would consult with Warsaw Schools Chief Financial Officer Kevin Scott. Scott then would go to each of the schools and ask the principal for places they could cut. The principal would then ask the teachers, and once all the information was presented, Scott would present the information back to the school board.
Robinson said he'd have to look at postponing capital projects. By law, the board has to take care of existing bonds. He also said he'd look at postponing non-critical maintenance, conserving utility costs and the board this year initiated an energy savings guarantee contract.
If further cuts were needed, he'd look at reducing administrative costs, postponing bus replacement, cutting programs and lastly reducing the work force. "I hope we don't get there," Robinson said.
Bailey said the state is in the process of taking over a bigger part of schools' budgets. As an outsider, Bailey said it would be hard for him right now to make specific cuts. However, in general, he said facing spending cuts, things need to be done. He'd evaluate where the money was going and see if there were more efficient ways to spend the money or other means to fund items. Third, Bailey said, he'd spread any budget cuts as widely as possible so not one area is hit excessively.
During public questions, WCHS junior Todd Eastis said the high school's hallways are crowded and the cafeteria is majorly overcrowded. Violence has broken out and student moral is low. Eastis asked the board what they could do to help.
Bailey said he understands the school is crowded, but the elementary schools' situation is tougher right now so they need to be addressed first. The high school will have to be addressed though.
As far as violence goes, Bailey said that needs to be addressed if it's true. His daughter just graduated from Warsaw last year and he never heard of any violence at the high school while she was there, he said.
Robinson said, "We hope, No. 1, nothing serious does happen." He said he has nieces and nephews who have graduated from Warsaw and they have told him there are some areas at the school where they don't feel safe going during the day.
He said he asked former superintendent Dr. Robert Haworth to check into it, but Robinson did not know if the situation improved. Robinson said they expect the school resource officer to do his job in helping address any issue, but if not, they want to hear about it.
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