Local news

Keystone Central school board candidates answer Q&A

LOCK HAVEN -- Three seats will be up for grabs on the Nov. 7 ballot for the Keystone Central School Board.

The first of three Town Hall Q&A's sponsored by Rich Fitzgerald took place Wednesday night at Willis Health Professions Center at Commonwealth University-Lock Haven.

Commissioner Angela Harding was the moderator for the event, and read out questions that had been compiled ahead of time as well as questions submitted by those who attended the meeting in person. Each candidate had three minutes to respond to questions.

Democrat David Dietrich and Republican William Baldino for Region 6 (Lock Haven Wards 2 and 3 and Allison Township) were both invited to take part in the question and answer session.

Baldino did not attend the session.

A few of Dietrich's answers are compiled below, edited for length. For the full Q&A session, please go to youtube.com/@kcsdtownhall2023 for the full recording.

Q: Studies have shown that early education results in higher graduation rates and better odds of success as an adult. What is your position on the district offering Pre-K education? (Follow up Q) In Clinton County, there are no pre-k programs that do not cost family. Would the school district be able to cover the expense of reintroducing a Pre-K program?

A: I think it would be fine to offer a preschool program. I believe that at one point several years ago we had a preschool program that was canceled. I would have no problem with bringing something like that back. I've heard comments over the past year and a half from I think all board members saying that they believe that preschool programs are something that help the kids get an early start to learn how to interact with other children and get an early start on their reading and social interactions so that they can be more successful throughout (school). Costs and expenses are always a difficult discussion on the school board. When it comes to something like this, I believe this sort of thing is given priority because it's important. In general our school district is very financially healthy. I wouldn't imagine there would be any push-back for a preschool program.

Q: How important is art and music as you look at the school's curriculum?

A: To me personally it's important. Both of my children were in the band at their school district, my mom was a piano teacher, I learned to play the piano. It's something that's important to me personally. Art and music I believe is a fundamental part of education that helps with problem solving, student's creativity and it's something that I personally appreciate. I haven't heard any comments about reducing those programs, but I would not be supportive in reducing those programs if the topic comes up.

Q: During most school board public meetings, community meetings included, public attendance and participation is very low. Why is this in your opinion, and what will you do to encourage public attendance and participation moving forward?

A: It is disappointingly low. It's shocking that there isn't public participation. Members of the community have done things like this town hall meeting to try and encourage participation. School board members -- when we have an important vote coming up -- contact members of the community and local community organizations and ask them to attend our meetings and speak. And yet, they do not attend or speak. One of my objectives, if I am reelected, is at some point over the next four years to help with that. I would like very much at the end of my four year term, if we have something like a half-dozen residents interested in running for school board. It would be nice to see younger individuals.

Q: Regarding curriculum, what tools -- such as mentors, publications, websites or other -- will you use to become a better, more effective school board team member?

A: I do training. Every school board member is required to do training when you first become a school board member and then do, on an annual basis, additional training. I read articles that are sent to me. I also talk to other school board members across the state. The school district belongs to a place called PSBA which is sometimes an okay resource. I'm always reading -- one place in particular I go is a subreddit about teachers and problems teachers face. I like to go there and read that, it's like a constant online blog type of thing. I find that to be a pretty good resource. I even watch other school district's YouTube recorded board meetings to get examples of what other districts are doing in their board meeting rooms. I try as much as possible to learn new things and keep up to date.

Q: What do you think will be the biggest challenge in the next four years for the school board?

A: We'll have a new superintendent and we have a recently hired assistant superintendent and that will cause a culture change that all of us will need to deal with. As far as challenges go, getting our local input to state-elected representatives in regards to new funding streams is going to be a challenge. We need to have our voice heard so that we get the funding stream worked out such that we get as much money from the new stream as possible. That is a big item that will be coming up over the next year. As a school board, we could improve ourselves a little bit as well. I think that's a challenge that needs to be addressed. Over the past year and a half that I've been president, I've seen a lot of dissension and conflict. I've seen a lot of individuals trying to undermine other individuals, and that sort of thing takes the attention away from some of the more important activities that we should be working on. We need some fresh people and fresh ideas and less fighting.

------

The second Q&A was held in the Sugar Valley Rural Charter School's multipurpose room.

Robert O' Rolley, Jr. was the moderator for the event, and read out questions that had been compiled ahead of time as well as questions submitted by those who attended the meeting in person. Each candidate had three minutes to respond to questions.

Democrat Mary Ann Clark and Republican Chris Scaff for Region 1 (Loganton Borough and Greene, Logan and Porter Townships) were both invited to answer questions.

Scaff did not attend the session.

A few of Clark's answers are compiled below, edited for length. For the full Q+A session please go to youtube.com/@kcsdtownhall2023 for the full recording.

Q: What are some of the valuable life lessons you've experienced and learned, and how will you apply those experiences and lessons if you serve as a school board member?

A: One of the values that I learned a long, long time ago is the value of honesty. I see how dishonesty is destroying our nation. ...The only thing you can do is be honest. I don't have a college degree. I love to read, I've been a voracious reader. Quite honestly I'm petrified sitting here right now. When I came in tonight I thought it would probably be easier to just be on the board, sit down and get to work getting the job done, than running for the school board. Honesty is really one of the values that I think transcends a lot, and I think I can take that and pass it along to my constituents. If they want to know what's going on -- unless it's a personnel issue or an issue concerning a specific student that can't be divulged by law -- then I'm going to be honest with them.

Q: Do you think there is a need for the charter school?

A: Yeah, there is a need. The charter school meets the needs of students that are local, for one thing. It meets the needs of students who have a different learning style. I had this issue with my youngest son -- he was like a square peg in a round hole. He was brilliant, he was personable, he was engaging, but he just didn't quite fit in. He came here to the charter school, and did well. Not everyone is set up for the general population in the other schools. I think the charter school does an excellent job of hands-on learning, of community building and engaging the students within the community. I think they do a good job.

Q: It's well reported that there's a lack of students entering tradework. Keystone Central has a Career and Technology Center that offers a good number of trades. Can you talk about your thoughts on CTC and if it should be expanded?

A: It's something that I really believe in. Not everyone needs to be on a course for college. When kids graduate, if they don't want to incur a huge debt for college, they need to have some skill set. I firmly believe in the CTC program and I'm really pleased with some of their partnerships with some of the local industries. What I would like to see them partner with would be partnerships with the trade unions. You can get out of high school, join a trade union and have fabulous family-supporting wages and benefits right out of high school. They'll train you. They'll give you that education. I really think that it's something we should take advantage of.

Q: Do you support reading the Bible in school?

A: I'm a Christian. If a student has their own Bible in school, and they want to read it, I believe they should have the right to do that to themselves. I do not believe the school should force any religious reading upon their students. We have to be really careful with that. If you open it up to one religion, you have to be willing to open it up to other religious documents. I don't feel that it should be taught in our school. I believe if parents want their children to receive a Christian education they have the opportunity to do that through their church.

Q: Legislation was introduced in the Pennsylvania house to go through the Education Committee based on Florida laws that bans books, restricts teaching about sexuality and how teachers teach about slavery. What do you think about that?

A: I was born in the South. I was brought up 60 miles North of Memphis in the late 50's and early 60's. I saw a lot. I went to businesses that had separate drinking fountains for "whites" and for "coloreds." I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now. I think the basics are that we need to be teaching the truth. If it's the truth, we need to learn it. We can't turn our eyes away from the truth. As far as sexuality, I haven't seen one book yet that encourages a person to be a certain way. I've never seen a book that tells you to be blonde or brunette or be 6 foot 5. I've seen books that say there are people out there that are blonde, or brunette, or they have brown eyes. But it doesn't say that you have to be that way. Those fairytales really bother me. We need to be accepting of everyone. Not everyone is born the same way. Nobody knows what's going on in your head. We can't judge, we can only be accountable for ourselves.

The final Q&A is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 25, in the Central Mountain Middle School Cafeteria. Republican Tom Cannon and Democrat Rick Schulze, Region 8 candidates, were both invited to attend. Doors open at 6 p.m. with light refreshments to be served.

You can attend the Q&A in person or watch the livestream at youtube.com/@kcsdtownhall2023

These Town Hall meetings are not KCSD-sponsored events.