Today, all five candidates seeking election to the Kettering Board of Education will meet at the offices of the Dayton Daily News for a group interview. The interview will be at 2:00 PM. Each candidate is suppose to bring to the interview a color photograph, a resume, and copies of campaign literature.
The Kettering board has five members and each member serves a four year term. Board elections are held every other November election. There are three Kettering board positions in contention this election and five candidates names will be on the November ballot for these three positions. All three incumbents of those positions are seeking reelection. The incumbents are George H. Bayless, Julie Ann Gilmore, and Frank C. Maus. The two challengers are myself, and James A. Brown.
I’m wondering what questions the DDN editors will ask.
- The Kettering financial situation, I’m sure, will be discussed. Kettering voters will need to deal with yet a new school operating levy next May.
- Kettering’s recent low grade in the state evaluation system, I’m sure, will be discussed.
- Kettering’s decision to not air President Obama’s address to school children, I expect, will also get some discussion.
I wonder if the most recent policy difference among the three incumbents will be explored. Two of the incumbents voted for the recent increase in teachers’ pay and one voted against the increase. On May 5, the Kettering community approved the renewal of a 6.9 mill operating levy, and shortly after that approval, the Kettering Board approved, by a vote of 3-2, a new two year contract with teachers that had a 1.5% increase in salary each year of the two year contract. Bayless and Gilmore voted in favor of the teachers’ pay increase and Maus voted against the increase.
This should be interesting. I’ll give a full report by tomorrow.
Mike,
HB-1 messes Kettering over with mandated hiring requirements for positions the district didn’t know it needed. Is that playing out in the election? Any candidates talking about the estimated costs?
Oh, and one last little thing–just an aside, really, no big deal–are any potential endorsers asking questions that would suggest they value the importance of education in a democracy? No doubt the endorsers who seek to influence voters have more important things to do than read Kettering Foundation President David Mathews’ books on public education. Nonetheless, voters/taxpayers might want their money used for schools that promote responsible citizenship.
Eric — surprisingly HB-1 was not directly discussed. It was indirectly referred to a part of the increased economic pressure on Kettering, but nothing specific. And nothing specifically about democracy was discussed either — an oversight by me. Some of what was discussed I reported here.