School board candidates talk facilities, achievement

LANSNG – Facilities — including the possibilities of building or closing a high school —and academic achievement are key issues facing the seven candidates for the Lansing School District's Board of Education.

Candidates for three, six-year terms include incumbents Guillermo Z. Lopez and Shirley Rogers along with Bryan Beverly, S. Joy Gleason, Thomas Patrick Morgan, Julee Rodocker and Randy A. Watkins.

Achievement is key

Superintendent Yvonne Caamal Canul has said that academic achievement is the district's top priority. Eastern High School must show improvement this year or face state takeover; the district has several other buildings listed as "priority" schools, meaning they rank low on the state's achievement list.

Beverly, 35, a Sexton grad who works in the Michigan State University College of Education's K-12 outreach office, is also working on a doctorate in educational policy. He said the district's resources must be focused on achievement: "The board needs to be making decisions based on classroom instruction, first and foremost," he said.

Morgan, 34, who has an infant son, works as a communication specialist for MESSA, the Michigan Education Association's insurance arm. Morgan said he is concerned about how academic achievement is assessed, partly because the state is in the process of switching assessment methods.

"It's hard to measure academic achievement right now," he said. Morgan said he did not support the district's change to K-3, 4-6 and 7-12th-grade buildings, and would support more K-8 schools.

Gleason, 51, has been an active parent volunteer in Lansing schools. She said she feels academic achievement is "a very high priority" for the district; she would also work to keep kids in school and learning by reviewing the district's suspension policy.

Rodgers, 65, said she doesn't necessarily agree with the way the state measures achievement with standardized tests and a top-to-bottom performance list.

"The way things are set up now, there's always going to be a top-to-bottom," she said. "We need to make sure Lansing is out of the bottom."

Rodocker, 45, a Meijer Inc. retiree who now works for utility company Consumers Energy and is active in community issues, said she is concerned that the continually rising bar for academic achievement will damage kids' self-esteem.

Watkins, 61, a retired fraud investigator for the state who has grandchildren in Lansing schools now, agreed that constantly changing standards for student performance make it difficult for schools to keep up.

Lopez, 64, retired from the city of Lansing's human relations department, said the board has been working hard with the administration to boost achievement.

"We've started on a path of restructuring our school district," he said. "We have a five-year plan that addresses achievement and long-term graduation rates."

Focus on facilities

Use of district facilities — especially the possibility of closing Eastern or Sexton high schools — has been a hot topic for several years. The district commissioned a facilities study earlier this year that recommended closing and selling buildings it does not need. A task force last winter also floated the possibility of closing Eastern High School and converting Pattengill Middle School, the district's newest building, into a high school.

"We have a lot of underutilized buildings," Morgan said. "Why are we still carrying them?"

As far as the high schools, Morgan said he'd prefer to keep looking at options and isn't sure voters would approve a tax increase to build schools.

Beverly was a founder of the "Save Our Sexton" movement but said he can't let that focus affect any future decision he might make as a board member. He said he'd like the board to commit to a decision-making process that includes community input.

Rodgers said Lansing must look at its facilities to be competitive with other districts. As far as closing Sexton or Eastern, she said "the jury is still out."

Rodocker said the condition of the district's buildings is a "deep concern," citing as an example deterioration at Kendon School, which she attended as a child.

Lopez said the district's recent facilities report that cites costs of about $45 million each to renovate Sexton or Eastern provides some perspective.

"Every child deserves the best," he said. "If we believe a new building is the best way to do it, I would go for that."

Watkins said the district needs to look at its resources and consider the possibility of a tax increase for facilities. He said he would like to see Eastern High School repurposed if the board decides not to use it as a school; he also said the district should consider possibilities for the Hill Center, closed as a high school in the 1980s. The city operates a community center there and also leases space for its police operations center.

Gleason said she feels the district has been doing a fairly good job in addressing facilities, and she'd prefer to retrofit existing high schools rather than build new.

"Working with what we have tends to be the better choice," she said.

Learn more

Check out the voter guide at www.lsj.com/votersguide.