Teachers query school board candidates

Candidates for the Sedalia School District 200 Board of Education addressed teacher concerns Monday afternoon during the Sedalia Community Educators Association forum at the Heckart Performing Arts Center at Smith-Cotton High School.

SCEA members and officers drew up two questions for the candidates, who also were given the opportunity to deliver opening and closing statements about their campaigns.

The first question centered on how the candidates thought the board should allocate resources to address decreased state and federal funding and class sizes the teachers said are “already too large.”

Incumbent board members Dr. Jeff Sharp and Jeff Redford were direct in saying that class sizes across the district now fall within state guidelines. Sharp noted that the surprisingly large kindergarten population this year — 425 students, compared with previous years’ averages of about 360 — prompted the district to add teachers. He added that if that issue is replicated, he advocates drawing on district reserves to pay for additional teachers rather than cutting resources elsewhere.

Candidate Stephanie Lefevers said the focus should be for the district superintendent to “stretch dollars to meet or come close” on staff requests for resources. She said the common goal across the district must be student achievement.

Redford said that when he became a board member seven years ago, there were problems with crowding, but that is not the case now. He credited the “cost-effective move” of building the new high school and the subsequent “grade shift” that balanced building populations.

The second question concerned the upcoming switch to Common Core standards and how “to keep effective teachers from being overwhelmed in their profession.”

Lefevers said teachers already are effective, citing the 14 out of 14 score the district achieved in the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Annual Performance Report.

She said as a board member, her job would be to monitor progress on the transition to Common Core and work with building administrators to resolve issues.

Redford used last week’s sale of Sedalia manufacturer Hayes Lemmerz to Brazil-based Iochpe-Maxion S.A. as an example of how the economy has gone global and students need to be trained to compete on that level. Redford said to meet that challenge, teachers will need more professional development training and higher pay to help the district “retain the best teachers possible.”

Sharp said the Missouri Assessment Program exam is one of the three most difficult standardized tests in the nation, so he foresees an easy transition from MAP testing to Common Core.

“I believe Missouri is really going to shine,” he said.

Summing up, Redford said he is grateful to have helped create the new high school and establish additions at Parkview and Skyline elementaries. He said he is “as enthusiastic today as I was seven years ago ... but there is more to be done.”

Sharp said the key issue that prompted him to seek a fifth term is the hiring of a superintendent next year to replace the retiring Harriet Wolfe. He said he is proud of his accomplishments on the board, but he cannot rest on them, adding that those successes were achieved by “the board as a whole (and) the district as a whole.”

Lefevers said as a board member, she would encourage development of relationships with community members to increase parental involvement in education and boost outside funding sources to help make up for cutbacks in state funding.

“Parents must be held accountable for the education of their students,” she said.