First off I will have to apologize a bit, as I have not done a good amount of research into the rest of the races in the county. Last time around I had a lot more time, both at home and at work to be able to check everything out. With a lot more responsibility at the job, and an almost 1 and 3 year old at home, time is a valuable commodity, so this time around I have decided to just dedicate myself to the school board race to do it justice, instead of spreading myself around and doing a half-hearted job.

Anyways, here is my view on the races.

First in the Springfield/Michigan Township race between Clyde Zeek, Bill Greene, and Christopher La Follette.

Personally I have reasons that I didn't want to vote for any of the candidates. Mr. La Follette is running as part of a slate with Mr Carlson and Mr Gipson. These are two of the four consistent votes that have kept Michael Harding around. Seeing his statements and watching him speak at one of the forums, I did not get the impression that there was anything to indicate that he would do anything different if he were to be elected.

Mr Greene struck me as an interesting character. I am not sure how well his business experience would translate into the school board, but I was struck by the impracticality of some of his opinions. Specifically when he spoke of how he wanted to see discipline handled by the MCAS, I got the impression he would have a hard time adjusting to the rigid structure of the meetings and the rules of today's schools.

Mr Zeek is obviously the one known commodity in this race, and for that reason, I will be voting for him. There are things that I haven't liked about his work, for example, the alleged handling of Coach Collins and details of the teachers contract negotiations being public. The reasons I do think he is the best choice are that he has been a consistent vote against the tenure of Michael Harding and that he has also been one of three people on the board to really work hard to keep the spending of the MCAS down to a minimum. He voted against adding new administrators, and he has questioned all new spending. We need more of his line item approach on spending.

Next up is the Coolspring/Pine district featuring Nate Gipson, Lynea Hinchman, Don Dulaney, and Eric Hanke.

First off of the bat in my opinion is that Nate Gipson must not be re-elected. He has been a mainstay of what I call the 4Harding bunch. I also have not forgotten the drunk driving arrest at 2 am that was blamed on a "school board function". Those two reasons alone are enough for me.

Next is Lynea Hinchman. I have known her and her husband for years. I feel she has the backbone to make a great school board member, but I have been highly disappointed to see her lack of attendance at many of the forums. I am not quite sure of the circumstances, but these public events are vital for the community to get to know you and your positions on the vital issues.

I was impressed with Don Dulaney at the forum I saw him speak at. I believe his police experience would offer a unique perspective on dealing with our school system which has many at risk students. I liked how he drew from his experience in Cook County to bring ideas to the MCAS. The one thing that worries me as someone with a job in Chicago is I know how much of the day is given up for that purpose. I do wonder how he would balance the time commitments between here and there if elected.

Finally I am voting for Eric Hanke in this race. I have known him well for a long time (we graduated together in 1992.). I also talked to him a lot during his 2006 run which was cut short prematurely. He was one candidate who really stood out as knowing the details of the school board better than most. I overheard him debating a member of the school board on a specific issue and he held his own. He is also the only candidate I can think of who I have seen at meetings consistently, even when it wasn't election season.

The last seat is the hotly contested Civil City Seat. between Rick Carlson, Dr Kora, Greg Tuel, Leslie Rowley, and Michele Nauyokas.

Once again I will start with incumbent, this time Rick Carlson. Rick is one of the most genuine people in this race. I really enjoy interacting with him, and think he is authentic when he talks about putting kids first. The problem for me is that I do not agree with many of his votes at all, the big one being the continued rubber stamp of Michael Harding. This would be the biggest reason why I couldn't support a vote for Mr Carlson.

Next up is Dr Vidya Kora. He is definitely the biggest headscratcher in any race for me. I don't like the idea of a true politician running in his expressly NON-partisan race. It worries me what outside influences would be at stake, when there are supposed to be none in this office. Even past that, I didn't get the impression that he was very connected to the issues in this race by the answers he gave at the forum that I saw. He didn't seem to give many details when asked pointed questions, and instead relied on glittering generalities to answer them. I would not support a vote for Dr Kora for those reasons.

Next up is Greg Tuel. Mr Tuel is another person who I have had extensive work with over the years, including running in the 2006 race with him, but on the other side of the ballot. My biggest issue in my policy exchanges with him is that his philosophy is 180 degrees of the person I would like to see make it onto the board. I feel the time for compromise and negotiations are gone, and that tone has been set at the top of the school system. They have consistently ruled as a small majority, and totally disregarded the will of the rest of the community at large. I do feel he is a good man, who most assuredly has the interest of children community at heart, the issue is like Rick Carlson, I just don't think in practice he would be ideal.

The 4th candidate in this race is another new comer to the school board races in Leslie Rowley, Jr. I enjoyed the ideas he had, but I felt that he was about an election too early in his viewpoints. He didn't strike me as having a lot of detail in how he wanted to proceed were he to be elected. I would like to see him stick around and be involved for the next two or four years, sharpen his knowledge and experience, and give it another run. I enjoyed the philosophy he brought to the table, and many of his viewpoints. Hopefully he sticks around and contributes to the school board scene even if he isn't elected.

My vote in this race is going to Michele Nauyokas. Personally I have helped out at the high school in various manners for about 6 years now. Every time I have been up there, I have been struck by how involved she is, and her views on the issues. When I interviewed for the teachers endorsement in 2006, Ms. Nauyokas was one of the teachers on the interview panel through the MCEA. I was instantly impressed by her upfront honesty, and the fact that she didn't hide or try to obscure her feelings behind a question. It made for a great conversation on the issues. If we elect her, we don't have to wonder how she will act or vote on the board.

I look forward to discussions on feels on the candidates and issues. As I said, these are all my feelings, opinions, and observations. If there are any details in here that are wrong, please offer a correction. Thanks and enjoy.

I am endorsing Mr. Hanke and Mr. Zeek for the same reasons noted above.

I will add my note of disappointment at Mr. Lafollette appearing on a slate with Mssrs. Gipson and Carlson.

In the Civil City contest, I feel that Mr. Carlson is the person who most needs to be removed from the Board. His attitude regarding the kids is admirable, but he can do all that without being on the Board. Unfortunately, the large number of candidates tends to favor his reelection.

My major concern with Mrs. Nauyokas is that she will bring too much baggage to the table, given her current and past involvement with the MCEA. Yet, on the other hand, this may be part of the impetus needed to get the needle out of the groove and enable MCAS to move to signing the contract with the teachers and bring THAT perspective to the Board. On the strong hand, this may lead to more impasse and polarization.

Mr. Tuel has suggested that he is prepared to deal with the players in place and the situation as it is. That does not sound like he is gonna roll over to get along and go along. I take it as a reminder that the reality facing the Board has to be dealt with without wishfulness that it were different. I do think that he would bring more outside influence into the Board, which may be part of what is needed.


I remain to be convinced between these two.

One more thing I wanted to add here...

Many of Michigan City's best realize that there is a major problem in the MCAS. This is best proven by the fact that 25 names have been on the ballot for only 7 seats in the last two school board elections. It wasn't too long ago that only Mr Tuel and Mr Carlson were running for the same seat. The time has come to turn over the board again. We did in it in the last election, and we need to do it again. The vote has gone from 5-2 to 4-3. This time around we need to make it at least 4-3 against Michael Harding.

Perhaps, as a clarification, I can tell you that I have gone on record during a forum and during last night's school board meeting, stating that I do not favor the extention of Mr. Harding's contract.

Also, four years ago there were actually four people running for that seat. I was an unknown, as was Mr. Carlson and Mr. Davis-Bey, but Mrs. Stephens-Norvell (now deceased) was the incumbant. I came in a distant second during that election. Two years ago, I ran against eight others for three civil city seats. I came in fourth, only about two hundred votes behind Mr. Kintzele (I believe). I have learned many things throughout these elections, and one is that you must win first in order to be in a position to make a difference. We will get over that hump this year.

I agree that we need fresh perspectives; and as a person who comes from outside, I plan to represent the citizens of this district and a new generation of leaders focused on fixing the problems and achieving excellence rather than representing any special interest group or carrying out my own personal agenda.

Thank you SSer! I appreciate the support.

I understand the concern that you express b/c of my leadership role in the MCEA. As a leader in the MCEA, I did the best job that I could to defend teacher's rights. I gave 100%, and I am very proud of my work. Now, I am no longer a teacher. What I bring to the school board is an understanding of the problems this school system faces; as well as knowledge of what we can do to resolve these problems. And I believe that I will work as hard at improving this school system as a worked as an MCEA leader.

(oops) "...as I worked as an MCEA leader."

I would like to thank all of the School Board Candidates that are bonafide members of City by the Lake. We appreciate you sounding off for us. I can only hope that every member of CBTL will promote the message board, WIMS and ALCO when it comes to this School Board Election. ALCO is replaying all of the School Board Candidate Interviews tonight. I am also requesting they play the League of Women Voters' School Board Forum.

Angie

All of those places, plus the ND and WEFM are great complimentary sources for information.

The readers of this message board are well-informed voters when it comes to all of the election races. But there are many voters out there who will enter the voting booth with only a couple of candidates in mind -- a presidential candidate and one, maybe two, others. So I encourage all of our readers to spread the news: let fellow voters know that the school board election is an important one, that the school board race is further along on the ballot (on page six, as I recall) but that it is worth the wait because it is so important to the development of our community, that straight ballot voters still have to vote seperately for the school board, and that every voter in the school district can vote for each of the three school board seats. Also, don't be afraid to share what you have learned about the candidates and point them toward those other sources of information: this message board, ALCO, and the ND articles.

SS and RK

Thanks for your vote of confidence!!!

Eric Hanke

Not to be too picky, but there is a difference between "complimentary" and "complementary" sources.