Three Springfield natives are vying for the two open seats on the Springfield School Board.
Monday, March 2, 2009
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SPRINGFIELD -- Three Springfield natives are vying for the two open seats on the Springfield School Board, each hoping that the recent strategic planning forum will steer the district in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteIncumbent Sam Coleman is seeking another three-year term on the board, while Scott Adnams and Earl Davis Jr., are looking to take the seat left by retiring School Board Chairwoman Judith Edwards. All three graduated from the Springfield schools and Adnams and Davis have put children through the district as well.
For Davis, 64, running for the school board is a chance to offer new ideas for the district.
"New blood. That's all," he said. "Everybody's telling me they wanted me to run last year. They said they needed new blood on the school board, so I decided to give it another shot."
Adnams, meanwhile, currently sits on the district's building committee that oversees the construction and consolidation projects at the town's three elementary schools, and has also been a member of the Positive Parents group at Springfield High School. The father of three current students in the district, Adnams, 41, said that the district's reputation will have a great bearing on the future of Springfield.
"I was concerned no one else was stepping up, and it was time to be involved in the community," he said. "When I left the Air Force and we returned to Springfield we committed to staying here, we thought of Springfield as a good place to raise a family, which it has been, and now I feel it's time to get involved."
Making sure that the schools are top-notch is also a goal of Coleman's.
"I have two small children now, and I want to do anything I can to make the schools good for them," he said. "I've been on the board for the three years, and there's a lot of unfinished business that I'd like to tend to."
The strategic planning forum, which took place on Feb. 4, allowed community members to voice their opinions on where the district needs to go in the next five years.
"The strategic plan is a large and good step in the right direction," said Coleman. "I think that we will do a lot of the work as far as the planning and implementation of the strategies that are very important." He added that the district will need to improve its test scores and offer a wide variety of extracurricular activities to attract new families.
Adnams said that he hoped that the community will continue to offer constructive feedback to the board as it constructs and carries out its new mission statement.
"I'd like to see the momentum that appears to have started to move forward," he said. "As Springfield looks to the future, we have to be able to offer a top-notch education."
If elected to the board, both Adnams and Coleman said they would like to see the district fight to remove the two-vote provision in Act 82, which subjects those districts whose per-pupil spending exceeds the state average to an additional vote on any new spending.
"Act 82 separating the budget items is very problematic for our situation in particular," said Coleman. "Per-pupil spending puts us over the threshold. Currently we've cut back to a zero increase in the budget and have done everything we can to repeal that act."
As a member of the district's budget committee, Davis said that he was happy to take a proactive stance on making sure the schools are fiscally responsible, though he did not provide specific answers to other issues facing the district.
"My first ambition is whatever subject comes up, go out and investigate it and talk to people and go from there."
Voting for the school board positions, as well as the school budget, will take place Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Riverside Middle School.
By Katie Beth Ryan,
Staff Writer
Eagle Times
Copyright 2009 EagleTimes