Thirteen community organizations have joined hands to educate voters and engage candidates ahead of the April 8 municipal election. For this election, the Informed Voter Coalition is hosting a series of candidate interviews with those in races for Springfield City Council Zone 4, Springfield City Council General Seat A, Springfield Mayor, Springfield Public Schools Board of Education and Ozark Mayor. The organizations that make up the Informed Voter Coalition include Be Civil, Be Heard; Drury University's Meador Center for Politics and Citizenship; KSMU Ozarks Public Radio; Leadership Springfield; League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri; Missouri State University's Office of Public Affairs; NAACP Springfield; Ozarks Technical Community College's Social Sciences Department; Rosie; Show-Me Christian County; Springfield Business Journal; Springfield-Greene County Library District; and Springfield News-Leader. Questions for the interviews were submitted by Informed Voter Coalition partner organizations and were not provided to the candidates in advance. The order of the candidate interviews was determined by a random drawing.
Candidate interviews
Sarah Hough
Good afternoon, I'm Erika Fox with the League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri, one of the nonpartisan organizations that make up the Informed Voter Coalition. Today, we are interviewing candidates for Springfield Public School Board. They are Sarah Hough, Gail Smart, Kelly Byrne and David Myers. Each candidate will be interviewed individually and asked the same questions. They will have one minute to introduce themselves and two minutes to respond to each question. Our first candidate is Sarah Hough. Thank you very much for joining us. Let's begin by having you introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this office.
Hough: Yeah. Good afternoon. My name is Sarah Hough, and I am running for Springfield Public Schools because, fundamentally, I believe in the power of public education to change lives. I'm a mom to two children in the Springfield Public School District, a community leader, a business leader and a child of public school educators, so I'm deeply invested in the success of our public schools. I grew up in a family of teachers. School was truly the center of our household. My dad was a math and science teacher and volunteer coach. He ended his career in administration. My mom was a high school teacher as well, and I saw firsthand how their life's work impacted thousands of students. It really struck me the last few years, as I've watched the school board, that we didn't have a strong voice for parents on the board. We have several parents who are serving on the board, but their school-age children are enrolled in private school, so I felt it was really important for public school parents to be represented on the board of education, and so that's why I'm running.
What is the role of public schools to shape our future citizens and prepare graduating students for work or continued education?
Hough: Well, I truly believe that public schools are the bedrock of a thriving community. It really is our way to prepare children for success. And I think the public schools are so unique in that we're touching every child in a community, right? We're giving every child access to opportunity, access to education, access to better themselves and access to be contributing members to our community. So I believe supporting our public schools is so important. When I think about what I want to see from our public schools, it is certainly a focus on academic achievement. We need to make sure that our kids are getting the skills and the academic preparation that they need to succeed. The workforce is changing. The world is changing. The way we get information is changing, so how do we make sure that our students are curious, they're lifelong learners, they have the foundation for success in reading and math and those skills that are going to take them into the future? You know, as a community, I think we have, and leaders on the board of education, I think we have a responsibility to make sure our schools are serving students in that way. And I think that means partnering with the business community and the broader community at large to understand what the future of work looks like, to understand where there'll be opportunities for our students and making sure that we're building our school district in that direction.
How would you work to attract and maintain quality teachers and support professionals in the school district?
Hough: You know, that is a really great question, and I think it's one that has been on the mind of almost any interview that I've done, has talked about recruiting and retaining teachers. And I think, you know, fundamentally, there are some key things that we have to make sure we get right as a school district. We have to pay our teachers well, and I love that in SPS's strategic plan, one of the first goals is paying teachers, you know, at the highest rate in southwest Missouri, certainly, but I think there's even a goal to be the highest-paying district in the state. That has to be a focus. I mean, compensation isn't everything within our role, but that certainly has to be a focus. And, you know, we all work because we get paid, and it funds our life. Certainly, that's not the only reason teachers are doing the work that they're doing, but it certainly has to be a part of the package to recruit and retain teachers. I also think, you know, fundamentally, we just have to build a culture of respect and celebrate the achievements of our school district and our teachers. When you look at the thing that impacts students more than anything, their educational attainment is impacted more by the quality of their teachers than it is by the curriculum, than it is by facilities, than it is by administration. So we know that that is a key factor in academic achievement for our kids so we have to build that culture of celebrating the wins of our teachers. You know, I think the other thing that I would talk about in this piece is to make sure that our kids and our teachers have safe spaces to learn so that certainly includes the physical safety of the buildings, but providing the behavioral supports to make sure that they have the attention of the kids in the classroom to make sure that those behavior issues that have increased, unfortunately, since COVID are being addressed and being addressed in a meaningful way, so our teachers can focus on what they're passionate about, which is teaching our kids.
Legislators in the Missouri House and Senate have filed bills in favor of school choice, also known as open enrollment. Can you explain what you think this means for your district, SPS? Would you support it? Why or why not?
Hough: So, you know, SPS is already an open enrollment district. If you are in, you know, an elementary district and you want to go to a neighboring district because your kids' cousins go there or, you know, some beloved friends of your family attend that district, if there's room in our SPS schools, you're able to travel to those schools. Now, when I think about the open enrollment legislation that's at the state level, there are a lot of unknowns and questions around what's currently proposed. There's a transportation question. I think one of the bills talks about the sending district has to provide transportation to the family that is either leaving the district or going to a different school. And that concerns me because I think that is, that could be obviously very costly for school districts across the state, a logistical nightmare. So I think there's a lot of unknowns in that particular piece. But when I think about how our state should support public education, there are a lot of bills that are, I think, bring that into focus. I think we have to support the public education in our state through funding, through policies that support and promote our local schools. And, you know, certainly the the district choice, and choice sounds like a great thing, but I think there are still a lot of unanswered questions there.
How do you plan to engage parents, students and community members in decision-making processes within the school district?
Hough: So this is one of the things that I am really excited about in my professional life. This is what I do. I work, I have a career in HR. My focus is employee engagement and employee listening programs. I work for a national retailer here in town. We have over, close to 200 locations across the country, and so part of my role in my day to day work is getting feedback and listening to stakeholders in our business and using that to drive decisions in the business. And so this is something that I'm really excited about, a skill that I have in bringing to the board of education. You know, I certainly think that we are all stakeholders in the success of our public schools, and I think to get feedback, you have to be continuously listening. That includes reaching out as a board member, reaching out to those invested stakeholders and getting information from them proactively. But it also means setting up those feedback mechanisms where you're hearing from those people in a regular cadence and using that information to drive decision making. You know, I think it's especially important to hear from our families who are in the district. We have so many policies that come before the board that impact families, whether it's start time or boundaries or policy changes. Our families are living those things, and so they need to be engaged in that decision making process. I also think teachers have to be engaged in the decision making process. I'm not a curriculum expert, but teachers are. I had the opportunity to go to Pipkin Middle School with the (Springfield Area) Chamber's Principal for a Day program and met with teachers, and I was blown away. I mean, I knew this, but blown away at the amount of time that they spend prepping and working on curriculum. They're experts in that field, and so we have to listen to them as we're developing curriculum and programs and policies. It's super important for our district.
What do you view as the greatest challenges facing the Springfield Public School District? Which of these would be your priority objective and how would you meet that challenge?
Hough: So I think there are going to be a few challenges that we face in the coming years. One is certainly going to be some tough decisions around our budget. And, you know, I think that as a board member, one, what we can do and as a community, we can advocate for funding for our public schools. I think that's very important for us to understand public school funding and the proposed budget, the impact of vouchers and some of the proposed legislation at the state level. I think as a community, we have to be advocating for full funding of our public schools. So I think the budget's going to be number one. But I think as a board member, when I'm looking at those decisions, we're going to have to make some tough budget decisions in the coming years. And as a board member, I think we need to prioritize maintaining positions that impact our students directly. So our classroom teachers are behavioral interventionists. Our support staff that are working with kids every day, those positions have to be maintained. And we have to, you know, make sure that we're thinking about the integrity of the classroom experience when we face those budget decisions that will be, that we know are coming as a result of COVID funding expiring. You know, I think another key challenge is going to be recruiting and retaining teachers. We talked about that a little bit in our questions, and I think we have to continue to focus on that, because we know that quality teachers impact education in such a meaningful way so we're going to have to continue to focus on that. And I think there, and I'm proud of the school district, we've made a lot of gains in the last couple of years in terms of academic achievement, but I think we have to continue focusing on academic achievement for our kids, making sure that they're getting an education that's going to prepare them for the future. And I think we have to be laser focused on that and make sure that our kids are getting the education that they need to go on to success, whatever that looks like for them, whether it's trade school or higher education, into the workforce right after graduation, we have to make sure that they're succeeding.
Sarah Hough, that concludes our interview. Thank you very much for taking time to talk to us. I've been speaking with Sarah Hough, who is a candidate for Springfield Public School Board.
Hough: Thank you for having me.
Gail Smart
Joining me now is Gail Smart. Thank you very much for joining us. Would you please introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this position?
Smart: Hello. Thank you for having me here today. I'm excited about being able to introduce myself and to share my priorities and to let people kind of know where I'm coming from so thank you very much for having me. I have been in Springfield over 30 years. It's been my home now for about 32 years, I guess. And I wanted to run because I really believe in Springfield Public Schools. My husband just retired from being president at Missouri State University. However, I am not retired, so I wanted to get back in to where I started, where I used to volunteer and be a big volunteer in the public schools, so I wanted to get back into that and back into K through 12.
What is the role of public schools to shape our future citizens and prepare graduating students for work or continued education?
Smart: When students graduate from Springfield Public Schools, they need to be ready to enter either college or the workforce or certificate program or a vocational school, something like that. So it is the responsibility of the public schools, of course, to have them ready to go. So this includes providing the love of learning. It also includes continuing to improve academics and providing college and career pathways for students. I think that collaborations and partnerships with the business community is important, and it gives students insights and skills into real world education opportunities, real world educational opportunities. A couple of the things that we have in the Springfield Public Schools are GOCAPS, and that is a renowned and nationally known program. And this is an example of how businesses and communities in the schools can all work together for, to educate people, to educate our students, to be future employees. And GOCAPS gives, it focuses on entrepreneurship and manufacturing. It provides real world projects, real work projects, job shadowing and internships. And our newest partnership is the Health Care Alliance with Springfield Public Schools, Ozarks Tech, Cox Hospital and MSU. And this gives students a head start into the health care. And it really addresses a need that we have in our health care workforce shortage. So I think that it's important to have board members who support these business partnerships.
How would you work to attract and maintain quality teachers and support professionals in the school district?
Smart: Well, I think that teacher retention, of course, is one of the issues, one of the challenges that the Springfield Public Schools is facing. Hiring and maintaining or hiring and retaining high quality teachers is the number one factor in student success. About a month ago, I had teachers at my home to ask them about what is working and what is not working. And one of the things, the first thing they told me was teachers are working, counselors are working, bus drivers are working, everybody in the building is working to make sure that the students have the best day, that they can have the best education they can have. And we need to make sure that our teachers are valued and supported. They have to navigate so many things, frequently changing testing systems and accountability systems, stressful working conditions so anything that we can do as a board to create and support a culture where teachers are rewarded is what I pledge to do and what I would support on the board. And it's not just listening to teachers, but it's actually responding to them and responding to them in a prompt way.
Legislators in Missouri House and Senate have filed bills in favor of school choice, also known as open enrollment. Can you explain what you think this means for your district, Springfield Public Schools? Would you support it? Why or why not?
Smart: I think that open enrollment means being able to go to school in another district — students from Springfield Public Schools being able to choose to go to Ozark or Nixa or Republic. And I do not think that I would be a supporter of this. I think that it has a lot of issues that need to be thought through because, from what I understand, the home district would be responsible for transporting these kids to a different district, and we don't have enough bus drivers for the students that we have that want to ride the bus. So, I would not be in favor of this.
How do you plan to engage parents, students and community members in decision-making processes within the school district?
Smart: Well, one of my priorities is ensuring student success. And I think that part of ensuring student success, not only giving them the tools and the resources they need to succeed, but also means collaborating with teachers and parents and the business community. I think that bringing in parents helps foster a open collaborative, more engaged school, and I think it is, it's important to listen to parents.
What do you view as the greatest challenges facing the Springfield Public School District? Which of these would be a priority objective, and how would you help meet that challenge?
Smart: Well, as I said before, I think that teacher retention is a big challenge for our school district. And I do believe that, as I said before, teachers need to be listened to and and responded to. I do believe that we need to engage in supporting teacher professional development. We need to make sure that they are able to attend various learning opportunities and workshops and conferences. I think that one thing that would help in teacher retention is a strengthening the mentorship program. Strong mentors provide feedback and coaching skills. And I think this shows that we value new teachers and are committed to passing the torch. And I will champion these policies that reflect support. I also know that discipline is an issue, and I think that there's an urgency to that. That is one thing I hear also from parents and teachers as well. And I think that we need to make that a higher priority for the administration, and I think we need to give teachers and principals more tools and options to handle the students, with handling behavior. And maybe we need to reallocate resources to have more paras in the classroom. I looked up today, and there are over 30 paraprofessional positions open in the school system. And I think that the teachers, they can't be the counselor and the social worker or the nurse.
Kelly Byrne
Kelly Byrne joins me now. Thank you very much for joining us. Would you please introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this position?
Byrne: I'm Kelly Byrne. I am an incumbent, so I've been on the board for three years now. I'm seeking my second term. I am the only SPS parent on the board. I'm also sort of the last one standing with any sort of business background. I am a business owner locally. I've spent the last 15 years hiring people and building my company, investing locally, bringing outside investors into the Springfield community to invest locally, to build, to build nice things, nice places. We do real estate investments and real estate development, so we build homes that people spend most of their lives in. I'm running because I think that — I'm running again because I think that that perspective is very valuable on this board, and it's one that, if I'm not successful in April, will be a void that this board is lacking. And those are the exact things that board leadership is about. It's about budget approval, policy, human resources and construction and things of that nature.
What is the role of public schools to shape our future citizens and prepare graduating students for work or continued education?
Byrne: Our role is, simply put, in the mission of the district. In my first term on the board, I was fortunate to take part in revising the district strategic plan. And as part of that, there is a mission that's clearly stated that is, essentially SPS, its purpose is to create high quality academic opportunities for each student. So everything that I do in my board service kind of is viewed through the lens of that, and that's what we need to do. I mean, for public education, we need to be providing each of our 24,000 students high-quality opportunities so that, you know, they can find their avenue and create this sort of baseline foundational education so that once they leave, once they graduate, hopefully, they go out into the world and can make their own path and maybe specialize from there but have those sort of baseline things that they need to be able to function in society and then take on a sort of a more specialized approach beyond that. So all of that to me, so all the decisions that we make at the board level, really comes down to how can we provide opportunity for each student? How can we provide those high quality academic opportunities? And what that should all translate to is academic success, and that really is the mission. There's a lot of things that we do. There's a lot of decisions that we have to make, but all of that has to ultimately come down to what's going to be the best for each student to be able to achieve academic success?
How would you work to attract and maintain quality teachers and support professionals in the school district?
Byrne: So I do this or we do this through the board, and it's absolutely fundamental. I mean, the teachers are the ones that are working with the students every day, and it's the ones closest to the students that have the biggest impact on the student's lives. I mean, ultimately, the household structure and their support of education and reinforcement in the home is going to be really the greatest indicator for success for students. But when it comes to the district and what we can control, I mean, it comes down to teachers, and you need to hire and retain the highest, most qualified staff. So in my term, I have supported every teacher raise that we've been able to offer, which has been each of the three years that I've served. And the biggest thing that I'm hearing from teachers that I know to be true in my three years on the board is, the teachers need help when it comes to managing student behaviors. This is a great problem in the district, and it's not unique to this district. It's a problem across many districts, but it's one that I don't think that we are fully tackling to give the teachers what they need. So in the last four years we, so we have approximately 700 K through five teachers, elementary aged or elementary teachers. And in the last four years, 400 of them have left, have turned over. We've had to turn over those positions. And these are a lot of our most tenured teachers, the ones that have been doing it their whole lives and really know what they're doing. And this just isn't sustainable. And the biggest reason for this that I'm hearing, and I think was clear in the Climate and Culture survey that we did that people might not be very aware of because it's not something that the district chose to kind of put out in the forefront. But out of the top 50 issues that were raised by the teachers themselves, behavior was 40 of them or so, so I know this to be true. I also believe that is why I have the support of, or have the endorsement of, both the SNEA (Springfield National Education Association) and the MSTA (Missouri State Teachers Association).
Legislators in the Missouri House and Senate have filed bills in favor of school choice, also known as open enrollment. Can you explain what you think this means for your district, Springfield Public Schools? Would you support it? Why or why not?
Byrne: So we get this question a lot, and I think it is very important. But what is really important to acknowledge here is that it's really not within the control of Springfield Public Schools Board of Education. There are things that are in our control and things that are not, and state legislator is not to the larger degree. I mean, you can advocate for those things or not, and I do that. I certainly do speak with legislators. I was up in Jeff City just a couple of weeks ago, meeting with several different legislators. That's more from a point of view of trying to learn about those things. And they may ask now and again, but ultimately they're going to have their agenda and what they want done. What's important is to make sure, from the board point of view, that we are flexible and adaptive to whatever, you know, the state or federal government requires of us to do. And I would say that whatever ends up happening, if there ends up being some sort of choice or voucher program, which I don't support either of them, honestly, because I support local control, I think Springfield needs to, to the extent that something can be controlled locally, it should be. And I think that's the way things were set up. And I think we've gone away from that a little bit. And I think it's important we do that because it gives the voters and the stakeholders more authority and more of a say in their local district. It's just a lot easier to show up to a school board meeting. It's a lot easier to go out in April and vote —we're more approachable. We're easy to, easier to access than those are in Jefferson City and Washington, D.C. so this would be something that, from my point of view, I would just prefer to be local. I think Springfield needs to decide what's best for Springfield, Cape Girardeau for Cape Girardeau, Kansas City for Kansas City, etc. So that being said, it is important that we stay adaptive to whatever may come down in the future. Springfield has done a decent job of that with their choice programs. My daughter actually attended a choice program, and it was fantastic, Academy of Exploration. I mean, they do an amazing job. I think it's unfortunate that not every student can participate in that. But those choice programs do position us well, should changes in that nature happen in the future.
How do you plan to engage parents, students and community members in decision-making processes within the school district?
Byrne: This is a tough one, and it's really important that board members accomplish this because when you, when you get on the board of education, it can become sort of an echo chamber. The administrative staff brings you recommendations. That's just the way the agenda works. And they bring you a recommendation and state the case as to why you should vote the way that their recommendation is. You don't hear the other side of it, certainly not in the board meetings so you have to be very proactive in reaching out to other people, you know, and relying on input from other people is what I do in my career. I have to trust the architects and the contractors and the, you know, the people in the city government and, you know, the real estate broker, whoever it is. I can't do all things. But you need to be able to process information at a high level and understand enough of it to make really good decisions, because those decisions have big impacts. I think one of the reasons that the SNEA has endorsed me, the largest teacher union or teacher group in the district, is because I've always had open communication. I've always been there to listen, and that's really what it is. It's not me trying to tell them anything. It's really just me listening and hearing — what are you hearing from your membership? So that's a large one. Listening to parents and stakeholders as being, you know, the only board member who has a student, who is an SPS parent, that also provides me a little bit more access to what it's like in the day to day basis. I also did substitute teaching in the district. I did it to learn. I actually donated the proceeds back to Care to Learn because it wasn't about making the money. I just wanted to learn. I can't do that anymore as a board member. They won't allow it. But you really have to be proactive in finding these alternative resources. I've kind of equated it to, it's like we're the jury and the administration presents a case for how they want you to vote, and they're like the prosecution. But then it's like you never hear the defense. So you have to be very proactive to hear all sides of the story to make a good decision.
What do you view as the greatest challenges facing Springfield Public School District? Which of these would be your priority objective and how would you meet that challenge?
Byrne: We have a few challenges facing us right now, and I've already touched on a few of these. But the the primary one that's standing in our way of making drastic improvements to academic success is the the behavior issues that we experience and really getting a handle on those. It's driving teachers away. It's making it hard for us to keep good, qualified teachers. And those teachers working with the students, you know, every day are what's most important for us to be successful. In addition to that, we're at an interesting time where we're in the middle of four straight years of budget reductions. We just simply have less revenue coming in than we did in the past, because it's all tied to attendance, and we have essentially about 1500 less students than we had in 2019. So now we're having to receive our funding from the state on a per student basis on those numbers compared to the prior numbers. So we have to sort of right size the district to the revenue. So we spent the last two years making some cuts, and all of these cuts have been really intended to impact the least in the classroom. Certainly from my point of view, the last, the worst thing we could do is affect the teacher to student ratios. So I think this circles back to why I think it's important that I be elected, again, for this school board at this time, is we don't have other board members who have a background in business and understanding, you know, revenue and expenditures and making those really tough decisions to ensure the health of the organization. You know, we have teachers or educators on the board. We have a retired physician. We have an attorney. But we really need that sort of business experience that understands finance and HR and management and making those sort of tough decisions. And of the other candidates running, no one has the experience I have in this area either.
David Myers
Thank you very much for joining us. Would you please introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to run for this position?
Myers: So I'm just really passionate about students. I'm really passionate about teachers. I'm passionate about the school district. I'm a dad of SPS kids, and I see a lot of things that need need some work in our district. I talked to a lot of teachers. I talked to a lot of parents that know that there's some work that needs to be done. I'm a 16 year veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves and National Guard, and I've got a lot of leadership experience I think we need on the board. I was a substitute teacher at SPS for a year, and I saw a lot of stuff in the classroom, got a lot of experience dealing with the students and with the administration. And I manage a, or I own my own business that manages the personal financial budgets of disabled veterans so I've got some experience in actually dealing with budgets, and I think we need somebody on the board that that can bring our budgetary situation back around.
What is the role of public schools to shape our future citizens and prepare graduating students for work or continued education?
Myers: Well, education. I mean, you know, that's the big word. We need to be able to clearly and confidently educate our students. They're not just a product. It's not just a, you know, this is not a commodity. These are future adults. They are there are our kids. They're our grandkids. They're future business owners, future community leaders, and we need to give them the best opportunity that they have to get out there and really shine and excel. And I want Springfield Public Schools — this is a great microcosm of so much in this small city. A little over 250,000 people reside here, and yet at the same time, we run the gamut of industry and socioeconomic status. And we really need to give our students the best chance that they've got at an education. And so I really want to give them as much of a fighting chance as we can. I think that we need to be focusing on giving them qualities not just in core competencies, but also how to be good adults, how to be good, functioning adults in society. I think that we need to be showing them the wide breadth of opportunities and careers that they have, not just in the state or the nation, but even here in Springfield, there's a lot of opportunities for students that they don't know about. And so I think it's just opening doors and valuing our students and really empowering teachers that gets us to where we want to be.
How would you work to attract and maintain quality teachers and support professionals in the school district?
Myers: Right, so I am a bridge-builder. Like I said, I've 16 years in the in the U.S. Army. I've learned a lot about talking to people, a lot about communicating. I mean, the military is the most diverse organization in the country, you know, probably the world, and we have to show that we care. And I don't want to — that sounds a little cliché — what I mean is, when you've got teachers that are concerned about being heard, when you've got teachers that are concerned about discipline in their classrooms, but you don't have a board that or an administration that wants to actually set policy, then it doesn't really show the teachers that they're serious about it. We can talk all day long about different discussion topics, but until we're until we're willing to say, you know what? Cell phones don't need to be a part of the classroom experience, and we're going to write a policy to that end then teachers don't really have anything to fall back on. And that's the thing that I'm hearing from them as I talk to them, is that they're concerned that they just, they don't feel, they don't feel empowered. They don't feel like they, like they've got the backing of the administration. And there's a myriad of other issues. I mean, we've got the annualized pay issue that the school board just talked about recently, which, incidentally, I'm in favor of. I think we ought to have annualized pay. I think we need to give again, I think we need to show teachers that we care by showing them that we have their best interests in mind. And it's not just in the classroom, but it's also in their personal lives. Like, look, you can confidently say, yeah, I'm going to be here for a 12-month lease because I've got an annualized pay structure, that kind of thing, I think, shows teachers a lot.
Legislators in Missouri House and the Senate have filed bills in favor of school choice, also known as open enrollment. Can you explain what you think this means for the public school district? And would you support it? Why or why not?
Myers: Oh, man. School choice is a big topic. So I think it presents a lot of challenges for a public school district. Obviously, our funding is tied to attendance, so if we lose attendance to school choice, then where does our funding go? If we lose funding where our, you know, it's not just staff and faculty, but it's also the buildings, maintenance and upkeep and improvements, different things like that. So I think that the board needs to be involved in conversations with legislators much more than they are. I mean, I've talked to teachers that know that we don't really have a very vibrant lobbying arm. I've talked to teachers that didn't even know we have a legislative lobbyist. That's important. Years ago, I used to work in politics here locally, managing campaigns. I worked in Jeff City. I still maintain a lot of really good contacts with individuals, legislators and senators up there, and I would be able to lead the board in conversations that are necessary because school choice, whether I agree with it or not, it's happening. It is happening. And I do like the idea that it requires our school, our district to come up with ways and policies to compete. I think competition is a good thing. I think it puts people into positions that require them to maybe step out of their shell, maybe look outside of the box. It requires them to do the best that they can. And so I'm not necessarily in favor of or against school choice. It is happening. And I think we need to address it on a, on a comprehensive level, rather than just kind of letting it happen and wash over us.
How do you plan to engage parents, students and community members in decision-making processes within the school district?
Myers: So again, I'm a I'm a bridge-builder. I am a parent. Like I said, I was a substitute teacher, so I'm able to empathize with teachers and kind of the situations that they're going through. I mean, the classroom environment is pretty rough right now. I covet the opportunity to be able to have open conversations with people. I, you know, you if you ask my wife, I'm not always the best at communicating, but gosh darn it, I give it my best college try. But I do really appreciate the opportunity to be able to talk to people, and I want to hear their concerns. I want to hear their complaints. I want to hear their joys and their accomplishments, too. You know, we tend to get into a kind of a myopic viewpoint where it's just negative, negative, bad, bad. And there's a lot of really good things that are happening out there. And I want to be able to remind parents like, you know, look, there's a lot of really great things that are happening in our schools. So as a parent that has been in the classroom, I think I can identify with these parents that are having struggles. And I just, yeah, I like to be able to communicate, and I want to open that up even as a board member that's, you know, that sits behind the table and listens. I want to be able to reach out to the community and let them know that, hey, we're elected of you. We want to hear your voice. Your voice. We want to hear your viewpoints. If not you, who? You know, who am I representing? How am I supposed to know what it is the parents want if they don't say it? You know, I mean, I can make my own decisions as a parent and people vote for me based on that. But at the same time, I want to be able to hear what other parents are saying. I want to hear their concerns.
What do you view as the greatest challenges facing Springfield Public School District? Which of these would be your priority objective, and how would you meet that challenge?
Myers: So I think the one of the biggest issues right now is, of course, the budget. And they're cutting $7.5 million because of, you know, COVID funds and various other things. We've already cut $7.5 million. We have got to get our budget in check. I mean, it's, it is a beast, that's for sure. But again, with my experience owning my own business since 2016, managing personal financial budgets of disabled veterans, I've got that experience going in. I'm able to go line by line, see where things can be cut, see where things can be tweaked, see where things can be, can be saved. I'm not always about cutting. I definitely don't bring an axe to a, you know, to a scalpel session that we need to take a fine tooth comb and go through this budget. We need to take a scalpel and cut. We don't need to be chopping things. Because what that does is it just it tends to cause chaos, and it tends to cause confusion. And again, if we've got teachers that have, that are concerned about being heard and being supported, then we definitely need to be showing strength and consistency. I also think that discipline in the classrooms is a big issue. You hear a lot of teachers talking about that regularly. And I know that the board has been loath to actually write a policy dealing with cell phones, but I will tell you, the teachers that I talked to and the parents, they are saying, clearly cell phones are the problem. We have got to step up and be — I mean, I'll say, just be the adults in the room and say, look, this is what we need to do. Period. And there's a lot of different ways to address that issue, too. It's not just banning all cell phones, which I think is actually what the legislature is working on right now. We want local control of this situation. We don't need the legislature doing this for us. So I think that cell phones need to be dealt with too for discipline purposes.
Additional information
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