News Update
School board candidates tackle issues at tea party forum
By Conner Hammett, chammett@starlocalnews.com
Candidates in the Allen ISD Board of Trustees election fielded questions from the Allen Area Patriots at a candidate forum on April 26.
Participating in the forum were Jason Shepard and Rona Zafari, candidates for Place 3, Carl Clemencich, Place 2 candidate, and Susan Olinger, unopposed Place 1 candidate.
Alan Hurst, Clemencich's opponent, could not participate in the forum due to a travel conflict.
One of the major topics of discussion was the district's $36.5 million service center, which is planned to be built at the northwest corner of Bossy Boots Drive and Watters Road.
When Fink asked Shepard, the Place 3 incumbent, to summarize the board's actions and the current status of the project, Shepard said planning for the facility goes back 10 years to the Project Kids committee's work in identifying the district's future needs, and was approved by voters with the stadium and performing arts center in the 2009 bond election.
"We do need these facilities, and we do need to move forward, but it is something that we're doing," he said. "We are working with community groups. There has been some opposition and some concern, and we're working through those issues, and we're looking forward to building out the infrastructure for the school district."
Each candidate was then given an opportunity to describe how they believe the issue should be resolved, starting with Olinger.
"It's just a matter of working through the process," she said. "I think its a facility that we need, whether that location is the ultimate location is not really important. The important thing is that we do the right thing for the district as a whole and we make the right decision for all of the students."
Clemencich said he has toured the current facility and come to the conclusion that it is under-sized and recognizes that the cost of capital is currently low, but did not say he supports the facility as proposed.
"I would support basically decoupling the single facility if it would result in a lower construction cost, as well as lessen any impact on neighboring communities," he said.
Shepard said in terms of the design process, nothing has been finalized.
"We have to be very careful when looking at land, and those discussions have to be done in executive session," he said. "There are certain things I can't comment on, but if you go back and you look at public records and you look at the agendas, you'll see that the board of trustees has had many, many meetings on this and many executive sessions where we were discussing land and discussing options."
Zafari said the district should upgrade its existing service center instead of building a new facility.
"I just cannot see adding more debt, because it is going to affect our instructionals," she said. "It's going to affect our students, and that is my point of view. I think we should just, for the time being, work with what we have, live within our means and not add more debt to the current debt that we already have."
Shepard quickly offered a rebuttal, saying that the bond has already been passed and therefore the tax rate will not change as a result of the service center's construction. Furthermore, he said, the bond funds used to pay for capital projects cannot be used for maintenance and operations expenses, such as classroom instruction.
"If we do not spend that money on the service center, not one dime of the service center money can go into the maintenance and operations budget, and that is state law," he said.
The candidates were then asked how many board meetings and workshops they had attended in the past year -- or, in the case of Shepard, how many meetings they have missed as trustees.
Zafari said she has been too busy as a full-time insurance agent and mother to attend but watches them online. Clemencich said he has been attending meetings and workshops for the past 15 months to prepare for a campaign in the event of a vacancy. Olinger said she has attended the last three meetings and "a couple" others while keeping up with the issues through the board agenda packets posted online.
Shepard said he has missed one meeting in the past 12 months, a claim supported by the approved meeting minutes posted on Allen ISD's website.
What each candidate would change to improve education without raising taxes was the next topic of discussion, with Clemencich maintaining the district should maintain the level of education the district currently has.
"Traditionally, we've been college focused, but not everyone in our community will probably go on to college, so I think we still emphasize the college programs, but also look and see what kind of programs are out there for those children that may not see college as their future opportunity," he said.
Relieving students and teachers from the heavy load of state-mandated testing currently in place is an issue that can be addressed without costing any money, Shepard said.
"Right now, we have 45 days a year with the new STAAR testing, and I think we've all experienced it, whether we read about it in the news or we've had kids in class," he said. "It is very stressful and has not shown to correlate to achievement in Texas."
Zafari said the district has a great educational system, but expressed concern with regard to the district's debt.
"Again, my concern is the debt that we currently we have, which is going to affect each student individually," she said. "How it's going to affect them, that's something we have to sit down with the board and talk about."
Shepard was then asked to grade AISD's performance with regard to educating all students. Shepard gave the district an A, citing progress in closing achievement gaps for all student groups as measured by the state.
"The one student group that is still an opportunity that hasn't quite closed the gap that we'd like to see is the lower socioeconomic status. That is always something that we're looking at and continuing to focus and really parental involvement is really important there. But we have a 99 percent graduation rate. We have tremendous programs for our kids," he said.
The topic of state funding was next, with each candidate being asked for their perspective on how the problem of AISD receiving less per-student funding an any surrounding district can be resolved.
As before, Zafari said that keeping the debt down is the solution.
"Last year, Allen ISD cut 80 positions: 40 teachers and 40 staff member positions," she said. "Let's not do that ... Let's keep our debt down so that these positions and the teaching jobs and the staff are not in jeopardy."
Clemencich cited his experience working for an Internet-based company as an example of how you can retain employees without paying "top dollar" by creating value.
"You value them as employees, you're giving them the resources they need, and it doesn't take a lot of money sometimes," he said. "It's the education, the training and the commitment to them as educators. I think sometimes that's all you need to make these teachers valued and they'll stay longer."
Shepard said he appreciated the community's support through passage of the Tax Ratification Election last year and clarified that debt service used to pay off capital projects cannot be used to pay for teacher salaries.
"I think, again, we've done a good job," he said. "We do have less funding per student than many of the surrounding districts and I think the achievements that we've made speak for themselves.
Early voting will continue from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through May 5 and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on May 7 and 8. Polls will be open on Election Day, May 12, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. All voting will take place at the Allen Municipal Court building, 301 Century Parkway.
Participating in the forum were Jason Shepard and Rona Zafari, candidates for Place 3, Carl Clemencich, Place 2 candidate, and Susan Olinger, unopposed Place 1 candidate.
Alan Hurst, Clemencich's opponent, could not participate in the forum due to a travel conflict.
One of the major topics of discussion was the district's $36.5 million service center, which is planned to be built at the northwest corner of Bossy Boots Drive and Watters Road.
When Fink asked Shepard, the Place 3 incumbent, to summarize the board's actions and the current status of the project, Shepard said planning for the facility goes back 10 years to the Project Kids committee's work in identifying the district's future needs, and was approved by voters with the stadium and performing arts center in the 2009 bond election.
"We do need these facilities, and we do need to move forward, but it is something that we're doing," he said. "We are working with community groups. There has been some opposition and some concern, and we're working through those issues, and we're looking forward to building out the infrastructure for the school district."
Each candidate was then given an opportunity to describe how they believe the issue should be resolved, starting with Olinger.
"It's just a matter of working through the process," she said. "I think its a facility that we need, whether that location is the ultimate location is not really important. The important thing is that we do the right thing for the district as a whole and we make the right decision for all of the students."
Clemencich said he has toured the current facility and come to the conclusion that it is under-sized and recognizes that the cost of capital is currently low, but did not say he supports the facility as proposed.
"I would support basically decoupling the single facility if it would result in a lower construction cost, as well as lessen any impact on neighboring communities," he said.
Shepard said in terms of the design process, nothing has been finalized.
"We have to be very careful when looking at land, and those discussions have to be done in executive session," he said. "There are certain things I can't comment on, but if you go back and you look at public records and you look at the agendas, you'll see that the board of trustees has had many, many meetings on this and many executive sessions where we were discussing land and discussing options."
Zafari said the district should upgrade its existing service center instead of building a new facility.
"I just cannot see adding more debt, because it is going to affect our instructionals," she said. "It's going to affect our students, and that is my point of view. I think we should just, for the time being, work with what we have, live within our means and not add more debt to the current debt that we already have."
Shepard quickly offered a rebuttal, saying that the bond has already been passed and therefore the tax rate will not change as a result of the service center's construction. Furthermore, he said, the bond funds used to pay for capital projects cannot be used for maintenance and operations expenses, such as classroom instruction.
"If we do not spend that money on the service center, not one dime of the service center money can go into the maintenance and operations budget, and that is state law," he said.
The candidates were then asked how many board meetings and workshops they had attended in the past year -- or, in the case of Shepard, how many meetings they have missed as trustees.
Zafari said she has been too busy as a full-time insurance agent and mother to attend but watches them online. Clemencich said he has been attending meetings and workshops for the past 15 months to prepare for a campaign in the event of a vacancy. Olinger said she has attended the last three meetings and "a couple" others while keeping up with the issues through the board agenda packets posted online.
Shepard said he has missed one meeting in the past 12 months, a claim supported by the approved meeting minutes posted on Allen ISD's website.
What each candidate would change to improve education without raising taxes was the next topic of discussion, with Clemencich maintaining the district should maintain the level of education the district currently has.
"Traditionally, we've been college focused, but not everyone in our community will probably go on to college, so I think we still emphasize the college programs, but also look and see what kind of programs are out there for those children that may not see college as their future opportunity," he said.
Relieving students and teachers from the heavy load of state-mandated testing currently in place is an issue that can be addressed without costing any money, Shepard said.
"Right now, we have 45 days a year with the new STAAR testing, and I think we've all experienced it, whether we read about it in the news or we've had kids in class," he said. "It is very stressful and has not shown to correlate to achievement in Texas."
Zafari said the district has a great educational system, but expressed concern with regard to the district's debt.
"Again, my concern is the debt that we currently we have, which is going to affect each student individually," she said. "How it's going to affect them, that's something we have to sit down with the board and talk about."
Shepard was then asked to grade AISD's performance with regard to educating all students. Shepard gave the district an A, citing progress in closing achievement gaps for all student groups as measured by the state.
"The one student group that is still an opportunity that hasn't quite closed the gap that we'd like to see is the lower socioeconomic status. That is always something that we're looking at and continuing to focus and really parental involvement is really important there. But we have a 99 percent graduation rate. We have tremendous programs for our kids," he said.
The topic of state funding was next, with each candidate being asked for their perspective on how the problem of AISD receiving less per-student funding an any surrounding district can be resolved.
As before, Zafari said that keeping the debt down is the solution.
"Last year, Allen ISD cut 80 positions: 40 teachers and 40 staff member positions," she said. "Let's not do that ... Let's keep our debt down so that these positions and the teaching jobs and the staff are not in jeopardy."
Clemencich cited his experience working for an Internet-based company as an example of how you can retain employees without paying "top dollar" by creating value.
"You value them as employees, you're giving them the resources they need, and it doesn't take a lot of money sometimes," he said. "It's the education, the training and the commitment to them as educators. I think sometimes that's all you need to make these teachers valued and they'll stay longer."
Shepard said he appreciated the community's support through passage of the Tax Ratification Election last year and clarified that debt service used to pay off capital projects cannot be used to pay for teacher salaries.
"I think, again, we've done a good job," he said. "We do have less funding per student than many of the surrounding districts and I think the achievements that we've made speak for themselves.
Early voting will continue from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through May 5 and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on May 7 and 8. Polls will be open on Election Day, May 12, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. All voting will take place at the Allen Municipal Court building, 301 Century Parkway.
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