School board hopefuls field questions at forum

Candidates for school board shared their educational views and visions with voters this week at a forum at the Hartness House.


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School board hopefuls field questions at Springfield forum | March 01, 2018 By PATRICK ADRIAN padrian@eagletimes.com School board candidates, from left, Steve Karaffa, Ryan Cooney and Troy Palmer address questions during a candidate meet-and-greet Tuesday at the Hartness House. There are two open seats on the board. — PATRICK ADRIAN SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Candidates for school board shared their educational views and visions with voters this week at a forum at the Hartness House. Three candidates are running for two open seats on the board: incumbent Steve Karaffa and the challengers, Ryan Cooney and Troy Palmer. Each seat is for a three-year term. One of the seats will replace Laura Ryan, who will not seek reelection. The forum, presented by the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce, was held Tuesday using a town hall format, in which candidates answered questions posed by the public. Topics included how to attract young families to the school district, how to improve quality of education, making learning relevant and school security. Steve Karaffa, 64, has served on the board for seven years and teaches criminal justice at the River Valley Technical Center. As a board member he believes in asking hard questions and looking at issues from multiple perspectives, including that of an educator, he said. Experience has taught Karaffa to understand the limits and actual responsibility of a school board. School boards cannot change federal or state policies. They do not select the teachers or the delivery of instruction. The board sets policies, approves the budget and oversees procedure, he explained. He said that the school district is changing for the better, but that change takes time and is not always easy to see. He finds encouragement in the proactive direction by the superintendent and board, the districts teachers and the new ideas they are bringing to the district. Karaffa opposes arming teachers as a means of school security. Teachers are hired to teach not provide law enforcement. The training takes years to learn and the end result would be bringing in the guns that schools are trying to keep out. Ryan Cooney is 20 years old and a graduate of the Springfield School District. After completing high school in 2016, he attended George Mason University in Virginia for one year, which he left due to tuition cost. He plans to attend flight school in Vermont. In high school Cooney served two years as student representative on the district school board. He said the board would greatly benefit from having his perspective as a recent graduate. While the district has many strengths, Cooney said there is still much to improve. He found that the education does not adequately prepare graduates for the expectations in college or the workforce. His priorities would be to increase the number of highly qualified teachers, expand district-wide course offerings and strengthen communication lines between the schools and families. When asked about the cost of his proposals to taxpayers, Cooney said that investing more would be his priority. But he pointed out that the majority of the district’s education funding is not locally sourced but from the state. Cooney also opposes allowing teachers to carry firearms. While it may look appealing on paper, he pointed to a study from NYPD officer training, in which officers during simulation only hit 18 to 30 percent of targets. Given the accuracy of trained officers he could not imagine the potential dangers from arming eduators. Troy Palmer, 42, is a mechanical engineer, the husband of a teacher and father of two children, both in the school district. This is his second run for school board. Last year he lost the election by three votes. Palmer identified the problems facing the schools being sourced in society. In countries with exceptional schools, teachers are revered by the community, he said. This year he served on the budget advisory committee, which he said prepared his understanding for the budgetary process. The experience helped him see the importance to invest at the earliest education levels in order to improve academic and behavioral outcomes. Palmer is not satisfied with how the district is performing and said that change is needed in the top administrative level. He pointed to low test scores and district ranking among Vermont school systems. He said the first step is to make Springfield the best district in the country and then focus on becoming best in the state. Palmer also opposes teachers being armed. “My wife said she would quit,” he said. Voting day is March 6 at Riverside School. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. To 7 p.m.