On Oct. 2, the Ellettsville Richland Community Council and The Ellettsville Journal held a forum for Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corporation school board candidates. Participants were Mathew Shockney, Richland seat, Larry Thrasher, at-large seat, and Brian Werner, at-large seat.
Forum moderator Cullen McCarty began the session by announcing some questions scheduled were cut due to time constraints.
The first two questions in the session focused on the role of school superintendent and their relationship with the school board.
“A good superintendent is a backbone to the whole school system,” Thrasher said.
According to Thrasher, the superintendent’s job is to ensure that the right personnel are hired to do the job of educating schoolchildren. Additionally, they must be able to manage the budget. He said that some RBBCSC superintendents in the past were nice people but “couldn’t count.”
“It’s our job to represent you and that’s the primary thing,” Shockney said, emphasizing that trust must be built and flourish between the community, school board, superintendent and district employees.
Werner said the school board should set educational goals.
“Those goals should be big, and they should be bold,” he said.
In his view, the superintendent should be a leader capable of achieving the goals set by the school board.
All three school board candidates expressed a willingness and desire to meet more than once a month as the school board currently does. Shockney said he would create opportunities to listen to the community using social media such as Facebook.
After acknowledging its importance, Thrasher stated the school corporation needed to “walk slowly” into technology. He referred to some things the school has tried in the past that did not work, such as setting computers on wheeled tables and carting them from room to room as they do in Brown County.
“What way we go makes a difference,” Thrasher said, focusing on the school’s ability to effectively use its budget. “You can spend a bunch of money and not do the job.”
Werner, however, focused on giving the teachers room to breathe and using technological advances in the classroom as a means to allow advanced students to progress and to help lift struggling students to newer heights.
“We’re not confined by geography anymore,” Werner said.
When asked what the current challenges facing the school board were, Thrasher quickly picked up his microphone.
“Money.”
He said people have been taxed about as much as they can be, so the school has to spend its money wisely. The school has come a long way since he has been there, but the progress has been slow. It has the personnel in place to do well.
Shockney agreed that finances were the biggest challenge the school board faced.
He said RBBCSC needs to generate more revenue through better management, branding and marketing.
“Money always communicates what we really believe and are committed to,” he said. “That’s why we get so upset about it.”
Werner said the voucher program requires the school to take note of where students transferring out of RBBCSC schools go. He said an exodus of students to private schools could cause RBBCSC to lose some state funding.
Shockney and Werner mentioned that teacher contracts were coming up. They both said the money needed to be available to reward teachers who are performing well.
Thrasher is a lifelong resident of Ellettsville and Stinesville. The former grocery store owner and school janitor has been on the RBBCSC school board for eight years.
Shockney moved to Ellettsville in 2009. He was on the education committee and was elected to the school board for a private school. He has a degree in history. After college, he pursued a career in ministry.
Werner is a career police officer and has served the Bloomington Police Department for 16 years.
Richland candidate Debra Walcott was invited to the forum but chose not to attend.
More than 60 people attended the event.
Originally published in Ellettsville Journal, 2012. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.