School board contenders tackle books issue

MOSCOW — Six Moscow School Board candidates offered their opinions on how to address the district’s staff shortages, facility needs and library materials during a Tuesday evening candidate forum organized by the Moscow Education Association.

Approximately 80 people sat in the Moscow High School auditorium to hear perspectives from Jim Frenzel, Cody Barr, Dulce Kersting-Lark, Gay Lynn Clyde, Dawn Fazio and James Gray.

Barr could not attend in person, so Renae Bafus read his prepared answers to the moderator’s questions. The moderator, Ingrid Spence, read prepared statements from Clyde, who also could not attend.

Frenzel, the incumbent, is running against Barr for Zone 1; Kersting-Lark, the incumbent, is running against Clyde for Zone 3; and Fazio, the incumbent, is running against Gray for Zone 4.

Part of the discussion was about materials available to students in the school libraries, and how much input parents should have on what their children are reading.

Both Fazio and Kersting-Lark referred to the district’s policy allowing parents to submit a written complaint about a book, which is then reviewed by a committee that includes community members. The committee can decide whether to remove the book or, if the matter needs further review, the school board will weigh in. Both said they have not heard about any complaints from parents during their time on the school board.

Frenzel said parents are allowed to ask the school librarian to restrict their child’s access to a book. He and Kersting-Lark suggested the parents contact the school faculty and librarians with questions about its materials.

Barr said in his statement he believes many of the district’s books are sexually explicit. He called for the school district to be transparent about these books and allow parents to review their children’s learning materials. However, he does not support banning a book containing language that is no longer deemed politically correct.

Clyde said parents should have a mechanism to access and review library materials. She suggested creating a rating system for the books to determine which should be allowed in the school district.

Gray said the responsibility to keep track of what students are reading falls on the parents, not on the school library.

The district is experiencing a shortage of paraprofessionals and bus drivers and the school board candidates acknowledged there are no easy solutions to this problem.

Clyde said part of the reason people are not applying to be bus drivers is the stress of driving on Moscow’s narrow streets and busy downtown. She suggested consolidating two of the elementary schools into one building to reduce the strain on buses while reducing facility maintenance costs.

Fazio said the district has taken steps to attract employees, including raising salaries and allowing those that live outside the district to enroll their students in Moscow’s schools.

Gray said the district could allow its seniors and juniors who are interested in teaching careers to assist paraprofessionals in their jobs.

Frenzel said the district will reimburse drivers for their commercial drivers’ license fees, and reimburse paraprofessionals for fees needed to take the required exam to be hired.

Kersting-Lark said the lack of paraprofessionals has led to teachers “running themselves ragged” as they tend to all their students’ needs. She said the district needs to be an attractive place to work, which means addressing facilities so that teachers don’t have to work in 85-degree rooms.

The district’s aging facilities were also a large part of Tuesday’s discussion as all of the district’s buildings are more than 50 years old.

Gray suggested forming a committee to seek grants and approach entrepreneurs for financial assistance to build new facilities. Kersting-Lark said in her experience, earning grants is difficult and the district cannot rely on that alone to fund its facilities. She said funding a new school building will likely require passing a bond.

Fazio said she is in favor of forming a committee that will educate community members about the need to upgrade the school’s facilities as a way to drum up support.

Barr wrote in his statement that he believes the district could save as much as $1 million per year if it is more efficient with its spending. He, too, is in favor of combining two elementary schools into one building.

Frenzel said it will require support from property owners to do major upgrades to school facilities, and there is consensus on the need, scope and cost of these improvements.

The candidates also brought up other concerns they would like to address. For example, Clyde said she strives for creating a low teacher-student ratio in Moscow’s classrooms.

Kersting-Lark said the legislature needs to provide more funding for Idaho’s public schools in accordance with the state constitution. She has also noticed a growing distrust in the public education system that’s manufactured by outside sources, and she said the district needs to guard against that.

Gray said he is concerned about politics encroaching into the school system, and he said the district should have the autonomy to create a curriculum that better prepares students for the real world.

Barr wrote that he believes public education’s greatest weakness is that it is governed by the state. Barr said parents feel like they are being left out of the public education system, and he would like to see more parental involvement. He said the ideal education system would consist of private schools. Barr said during a candidate forum held last week by the League of Women Voters of Moscow that he and his wife homeschool their children.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.