Candidates for Warsaw Community Schools' board recently aired their views on three questions about the school board and Warsaw Community Schools.

The candidates for District 3 are Dan J. Robinson and Albert G. Smith; for District 4, Charles Sauders and Terry Klondaris; and for District 6, Craig Allebach, running unopposed. Following are their responses.

Q: What do you see as the major strengths and weaknesses of Warsaw Community Schools?

A: Robinson said, "Drugs at school and discipline are always a weak area for any school and we're certainly not any different in that respect." He said Warsaw Community Schools have several strengths, including a good administrative team, good teachers and a good infrastructure.

Smith said the major weakness of the school system is the quality of teachers. "We have too many poor teachers, and I mean poor," he said. A former teacher, Smith said Indiana's low academic standards are due to mediocre teachers. He could find no strengths.

Sauders said the quality of the teaching staff and the administration is a definite strength, as is the fact that "we have overwhelmingly good kids." A weakness, he said, is the lack of diversity and understanding of how Warsaw is changing culturally. "We need to be more aware of diverse ethnic cultures," he said.

Klondaris said the strengths are the quality of the administrative personnel - superintendent, principals and support staff - and the teaching staff. "Teachers are our greatest asset along with the students." Weaknesses, he said, are drugs and discipline. "We have to respond to the needs of the kids and we also have to be responsive to ... the taxpayers," he said.

Allebach said one strength in WCS is keeping schools safer, "keeping our kids first so we can get down to the business of educating kids." The weakness, he said, is the constant challenge from the state and federal governments for funding, and mandates to include nonacademic programs and to focus more on issues related to students with special problems and less on mainstream students.

Q: What do you think is the teacher's role in education in the future and what is the priority of that role?

A: Robinson said, "What I see that their role ought to be and what their role has evolved to be is not the same thing." Teachers need too much time babysitting, he said, and he would like to see teachers spend more time teaching and less time with babysitting and required paperwork.

Smith said teachers play a role just below the parents. He would like to see the tenure law abolished, and wants teachers to be graded by students from the third grade up.

Sauders said, "Without teachers there would be no education in the future. ... The teacher is the key to opening up the world of education to the students."

Klondaris said teachers have taken on more of the parents' responsibility: "They are often the only ear the child gets." He predicted that the teachers' role will increase and thought teachers should have more input to the school board.

Allebach said that other than parents, teachers play the most vital role in education. "Teachers need to get back to instructional time and not have to act as substitute parents," he said.

Q: What specific goals do you hope to accomplish as a member of the school board?

A: Robinson said he hopes to maintain good fiscal responsibility, that the school board can get as much for the money as it possibly can, and that the school system can do an even better job of basic education - especially reading.

Smith said his goal is to learn how to say no. He wants to get the most out of taxpayers' money and reduce expenses. He said he graduated from Ball State University in 1952 and since then has seen "sports going up into the clouds and academics going into the basement."

Sauders' goal is to keep the lines of communication open between the teaching staff and the administration, and to make sure teachers feel they have a voice on the board. He also said he wants to keep Warsaw Community Schools moving ahead so that "in the future Warsaw is a place where people want to stay and raise their kids."

Klondaris wants to keep the level of education as good as it is now and continue to improve. "We've got to prepare these kids for when they graduate from high school. We have to equip them to face the future," he said.

Allebach said he would like the school board to stay on its present course. He wants WCS to provide a strong education and still be fiscally responsible and to keep schools safe by keeping violence down. Growing cultural diversity in Warsaw also is creating a unique challenge that needs to be addressed, he said. [[In-content Ad]]