School Board Candidates Meet The Public -- District 7, Landon Martin, Dan Metzger
Posted
John DeGroff-
Candidates for the Warsaw Community School Board from District 7 are Landon Martin and Dan Metzger.
Martin is a farmer from Silver Lake and has run his family's farm for seven years. He could not attend the "Meet the Candidates" event due to a family commitment, but did provide written statements.
He said that his main reason for running for a school board position was because, with property taxes being high, he believes that farmers need to have a voice on the board.
Metzger is co-owner of Metzger Trucking in Silver Lake and has three kids in the school system.
In his opening statement during the candidate introduction, Metzger said, "I'm tackling this from a little different perspective. I'm here to serve, not only our teachers and administrators, but our kids. I feel the kids are the most important asset we have in the school system."
After opening remarks, candidates from each district then went to separate rooms where they answered four questions, one from each of the event's sponsoring organizations.
American Association of University Women asked, "What do you consider Warsaw Community Schools' greatest strength and greatest challenges and what should the priorities be for the future of the school district?"
Landon Martin said, "The greatest strength is that many parents are involved in the lives of their children, which helps schools in many ways. The greatest challenge is giving education top priority and doing it as fiscally conservative as possible. Always remembering where the money comes from, the taxpayers of Kosciusko County.
"I am one for small government and believe that we the people of Kosciusko County know our children better than the government in Washington, D.C. Therefore, I would like to get away from the Department of Education. I would like to see Warsaw flex its muscles and try to be a leader to push for the removal of the Department of Education and put the educating back to the families of Kosciusko County."
Metzger said, "I honestly consider the people - not just the teachers and the administration - but the kids, to be the greatest asset that we have. I think our challenge now is to take these assets, our teachers, our students, our technology, and to implement it now. Our kids today learn differently than when I was in school, then when our parents were in school. That's the challenge that I'm going to challenge our current superintendent with, to make sure to implement policies that are relevant to kids today."
Warsaw Community Education Association asked, "Given Warsaw Community School's finite financial resources (and a cut of 2.5 million from the budget this year), how would you prioritize spending to make Warsaw Community Schools a better place for students to learn and teachers to work?"
Martin said, "We're in the business of educating and not sports. If a student wants to be in sports, they must pay for all the expenses and not the taxpayers. Sports has nothing to do with education."
Metzger said, "I wouldn't even venture to go into that until I got a chance to talk to the teachers and to the administrators, to get an idea of what's going on.
"The 2.5 million cut is about 4.6 percent of the school budget. That's not good, I don't like it, but a lot of stuff is handed down by the state, where we don't have control. In the private sector, it's way worse. Without speaking to the teachers and administrators, it's ridiculous to talk about it now."
Orthoworx asked, "How do you think the Warsaw Schools impact area employers' ability to recruit and retain a qualified professional workforce, and what are your plans to assure that the school system helps attract the best talent to Warsaw?"
Martin had no comment.
Metzger said, "Obviously, to employers, to be able to show them the schools, the nice facilities we have here, it's a huge selling point.
"The second part of the question, I'll bring that back to technology. I want to make sure that our kids have the best access to modern technology. I think it's so important to work with our teachers and administrators to make sure our kids are provided the best technology. I would stress giving teachers free reign when it comes to technology."
The Times-Union asked, "What is your overall impression about the new schools construction projects now that they are all mostly completed, with major exception being the flooring at Madison Elementary?"
Martin said, "I was not happy when they closed the Silver Lake school. I like to see community schools instead of large, pricey schools. Students do best in their own community without having the long commute of hours on a bus. Children need to spend as much time home with family and not on the roads being transported. Also, I feel that with the smaller community school, you would have more parental support."
Metzger said, "Initially, being from Silver Lake, when they were going to close the school, I had reservations about it. Now in hindsight, I think the schools are awesome, I love the schools. I hope I get a chance to tour them all. As far as the flooring being the only major glitch, I can't believe how smoothly it went."
The small group of people interested in District 7 only asked Metzger a few questions, but he was able to repeat his earlier statement that he wants to serve.
"I don't have an agenda," he said. "I don't like to micro-manage."
He also reiterated his belief that the students are the school's greatest asset and that providing them the best in technology is essential.
