New members of the Emporia board of education will spend the next few months in training for their positions, and the next few years reading district information to be prepared for the board meetings, according to former long-time board member Roger Hartsook.
“I just think that when you’re elected, you’ve got to accept that you’ve got to educate yourself so that you’re prepared,” Hartsook said in a telephone interview this morning.
There will be plenty of opportunity for that before the members take office on July 1.
Voters re-elected board president Grant Riles for another term, and chose three new members to take the place of those who had resigned or chose not to run this year.
The latter group will have opportunities to attend seminars conducted specifically for new members by the Kansas Association of School Boards, as well as other orientation sessions from the district’s administrative staff.
“They really need to take these opportunities seriously and schedule the time to attend,” Hartsook said.
The sessions will provide information about federal and state mandates, both funded and unfunded, and will give insight into how other districts are handling their finances, staff, and other aspects of running public schools.
“Sometimes you find out that you could do more, and sometimes you find out you should pat yourself on the back because your district is in good shape,” Hartsook said.
Hartsook said he found it interesting that among all four winners Tuesday only one has a child attending Emporia public schools. Three, however, have had youngsters in the system and one has worked with hundreds, if not thousands, of children in the local district.
“Normally, when you have people come on the board, that’s one of the reasons they come on,” he said. “... (M)aybe that takes any type of prejudice out of the picture.”
Angie Schreiber, who led the unofficial returns with 1,647 votes, is the mother of Gretchen Schreiber, a senior at Emporia High School and the sole offspring among the winners who is attending an Emporia school.
Tuesday was a good day for the Schreiber women.
Gretchen earlier in the day received noticed that she’d received a scholarship from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul campus.
Angie and Gretchen went together to the polls on Tuesday to vote. It was Gretchen’s first time to cast a ballot and, though the ballot was secret, she readily admitted she had voted for her mother.
“It was really fun,” Gretchen said.
Mark Schreiber — Angie’s husband and Gretchen’s father — was pleased with the day’s events.
“I’m proud of them both,” he said. “They’ve just done a terrific job.”
Schreiber said that Angie’s passion for learning showed through during the campaign.
“She does her homework and really expresses herself well,” he said.
Angie Schreiber said that literacy ranks at the top of her passions for learning and she will focus on advancing that cause. People in the community have told her that they have turned down promotions, for example, because they did not feel they read or communicated well enough to succeed at a higher level.
The Schreiber family were among about 50 friends and families who gathered at the Lyon County Courthouse Tuesday evening as the votes were counted.
Glen Strickland, Emporia State University professor who finished second with 1,605 votes, sat beside his wife, Carol, and watched his name climb from No. 4 to No. 2 during the evening.
He had been dismayed at the low voter turnout when he and his wife, Carol, went to the polls about 1 p.m. Tuesday. They were the 14th and 15th voters at the site.
“I was shocked,” he said. “I’d never seen that low a turnout at Logan School.”
Incumbent board member and current president Grant Riles finished third with 1,574 votes. He was pleased with the quality of candidates across the school and city slates, an opinion that surfaced several times during the evening. He was equally pleased to be re-elected from such a strong field of candidates.
“I’m happy ... and looking forward to serving again,” he said. “We’re losing a lot of experience, but we’ve got a lot of good, qualified people.”
Hartsook said that he has been surprised that the public does not seem to recognize the importance of the task of being a school board member.
“I’ve always felt the board was more important than a lot of folks credit it,” he said. The district is a major employer, with a broad spectrum of buildings, equipment, vehicles, and supplies to maintain.
“Then you take in the fact that they have the future of the children,” he said.
It is going to be essential for board members to deal with the diverse backgrounds of the children so that all are prepared to succeed.
“Diversity issue is first and foremost with the schools,” Hartsook said. “I think the schools struggle with it. I think they try. It’s a tough concept for the community sometimes to understand. ... We need to recognize that 40 percent of the community is (diverse) and we need to adapt.”
Mike Helbert, who ended fourth in the balloting with two fewer votes than Riles, was among the top four throughout the evening. With eight capable candidates, Helbert speculated on why the results varied little from start to finish.
“I think that they voted for people who had strong opinions — not necessarily the same opinions, but strong ones,” Helbert said as the last precincts were being counted.
Ty Wheeler was watching the screen as it updated periodically with fresh election results.
“I really wanted to do this,” Wheeler said. “If a couple more (precincts) come in and I’m still (in the bottom half), I’m going to be in trouble.”
Wheeler said that he had learned much about the value of the school board during his campaign.
“The more you get involved, the more you understand just how important it is,” he said.
Brent Windsor, who finished 47 votes behind Wheeler, said that his interest in the school board had intensified as he campaigned.
“As the whole election process has gone forward, I really became passionate about winning,” he said. “Hopefully I’ve gotten my name out.”
Windsor frequently attended school board meetings before the election, and said that he planned to continue that pattern to stay on top of issues.
“If I don’t win,” he said Tuesday evening as the vote count went on, “I’ll be back in a couple of years.”
In the interim, as a citizen, he would be satisfied with the outcome.
“I think whoever wins, it’s going to be a good board,” he said.