The five candidates for Hays USD 489 were interviewed by the Hays Post. Their responses are being presented in a question-and-answer format. The other candidates running include: Kelly Ancar, Ken Brooks, Craig Pallister and Meagan Zampieri-Lillpopp.
Three seats are available on the board. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Age: 60
Occupation: Business owner, rancher and retired teacher.
What do you think qualifies you to run for the school board?
I taught for 31 years in USD 489. I am a Kansas Teacher of the Year. I have won numerous awards in the ag teaching profession, as well. I've lived here for 35 years. I'm a business owner, which relates back to the tax stuff.
Do you have a child or grandchild currently attending Hays USD 489 schools or did any of your children attend in the past?
I have three kids who have gone through USD 489. I have two currently in USD 489. I have one grandchild who is a little over 2, and one coming in four weeks.
Why are you running for reelection?
To keep the good things that we have going, we now have nice facilities. I want to see them finished. It's a quality school facility-wise. I think the teachers are there and I want to see it continue on.
Do you support the district's five-year capital improvement plan? If not, is there anything that you would change about it?
Yeah, I support it because I voted on everything. I would like to see a 10-year plan, because now we are at the point where all these turfs that we have laid down have eight-year guarantees.
If they all come due or need to be replaced at the same time, that's going to be a big deal. I would hope we can stagger them so that we can replace two fields, two fields, two fields, because that's going to be $700,000, probably three-quarters of a million dollars a pop.
There's the football field, softball field, baseball field, the middle school football and soccer field and practice field. Five years is good. I think 10 years is better, business-wise. I think it's better planning.
The big conversation is going to happen with the committee on the naming rights. It depends on what the committee wants to come up with. If we name some things, I sure hope that money gets earmarked for replacing stuff, just not in the general fund. We decide what we need at the time. I think that's a wiser vision.
Do you support the plans for the remaining bond projects? If not, is there anything that you would change about those projects?
Not unless we have a plumbing issue like we had at O'Loughlin Elementary School.
The nice thing that we've heard is they're going to run the scope up and down [the sewage pipes at the Hays Middle School and the former high school], because that was an expensive fix. He said $600 to $1,000 to scope that whole thing.
When you start cutting concrete out to put in pipes, that's expensive fast. Everything so far has been pretty nice. I hope we have enough dollars in that pond to finish and finish strong. When we're done, they should be nice.
How would you view your role as a school board member, oversight with administrators and teachers handling day-to-day operations, or the board manages all aspects of operations?
This is my vision of a board member. We're going to vote and discuss items brought to the school board meeting that the administration and our leaders think are important.
I also don't mind being a sounding board for concerned people. But I think that there's a chain of command. Once they've gone that way, and they're frustrated, I don't mind listening to them.
I've gotten emails. I've gotten phone calls. I get it. Some people feel more comfortable coming to me. [Board member] Jayme [Goetz] gets them because she taught there. I understand that.
That's a fine line when you listen. Do you react? You can always call the superintendent. There's always more than one side of the story. If you just jump, maybe you would have jumped differently if you knew both sides of the realm.
Do you think the district is adequately managing its budget? If not, what would you change or cut?
I think we're doing good. When we have to raise the mill levies [because] of the economy and prices of things, it's a little tough to do to people who are on fixed incomes. People's salaries aren't rising. I don't think they're jumping as fast as that is.
It's a double-edged sword. If we don't give teachers raises, do we keep all our good teachers, or can they go somewhere else?
Do we recruit, or do we get new ones and good ones that come in if you don't have competitive salaries? The only way to get a competitive salaries ... that's the majority of the money. We've given some nice raises here in the past.
That's a fine line. Do you not give a raise sometimes? I don't know. If you want that budget to stay the same or level out on the mill levy, then you have to. That's one that you have to weigh as it goes.
If we stay where we're at, you know the amount of kids in some of these classrooms needs not to be 23, 24, 25 kids at the second, third and fourth-grade levels.
Would you like to see class sizes reduced?
Especially since we've now incorporated some kids with higher academic disciplines, as we have integrated kids with disabilities.
Westside students are now integrated. They all deserve an education, but they don't require the same amount of time and focus as other students.
I hope the budget and our money needs for facilities should decline greatly now. We don't need a new roofs, and AC should all be taken care of.
Are there any policies that you think should be changed? How would you change those policies if you had the ability?
The district policies that I've ever had questions about, I've asked about on the board.
The last one I wanted to know was how we hired people, and so that was brought to the board, step by step, how interviews are going, and how we pick. Resume background checks, to the whole ball of wax, that was interesting to know.
Another one would be the transportation before we did the lease program. Some of those vehicles were scary when I was driving. I mean, they were just old.
SEE RELATED STORY: Hays USD 489 BOE approves fleet plan contract with Enterprise
Do you feel comfortable with the lease program?
I surely do. There's less risk of our kids breaking down somewhere on the road. We're a different critter than Salina or Wichita. We have many long road trips.
I'm going to go to Liberal next Thursday to watch my kid. I mean, that's a long ride and we played basketball down there in January. You've still got a kid hanging out there somewhere in the middle of nowhere if it's cold.
The [vehicles] have to be a lot more dependable. And if it's the same dollars as we were doing before, this is much wiser. Yeah, why not?
If they're going to do all our foresight of selling and merchandising for top dollar, we can't get that for those vehicles. We can't do what Enterprise does, nor do we have the time.
Is there anything else that you would like to add?
I'm proud of what we've done since I've been on the school board. The resource officer who came in for the 2023-24 year ... I was very proud of. That was a push that I had something to do with. I've been pushing for the second one.
SEE RELATED STORY: New school resource officer announced for Hays High School
This world is getting crazier all the time. I want our kids to be safe. And if my spouse was a teacher who works there, I would want them to be safe too. I think knowing there is an obstacle at a known target, I think that detours or at least gives our kids a better chance. I will continue to push for a second resource officer.
That probably ties back to your budget, because that's a costly critter.
I'm pretty proud of what we did on the laptop deal for the high school kids. Instead of going with the first recommendation, we did a lot of research and found nobody's recommending that for kids moving on. Just because we do it at the elementary, doesn't mean we shouldn't educate our kids on something new and different that prepares them for post-secondary education.
As told to Cristina Janney/Hays Post