School board candidates say biggest challenge is lack of confidence, trust

Student teacher Ed Neeley holds traffic at bay while serving as a crossing guard for West Elementary students as they pour across West Main Street and into the weekend following the final bell on Friday afternoon in Jefferson City.
Student teacher Ed Neeley holds traffic at bay while serving as a crossing guard for West Elementary students as they pour across West Main Street and into the weekend following the final bell on Friday afternoon in Jefferson City.

At a campaign forum earlier this week, each of the five candidates for the Jefferson City Board of Education explained what he or she believes is the district's No. 1 challenge. Most of them alluded to a breakdown in teacher morale and trust in school leaders as the district's top concern.

With an election scheduled for April 7, four challengers and an incumbent are vying for two open seats on the board. The event was hosted by Lincoln University student government leaders.

Adrian Hendricks II serves as the Central Missouri youth development specialist for Lincoln University's Cooperative Extension and is senior pastor at the Joshua House Church. He said Jefferson City is at a crossroads.

Hendricks noted the "issues that are on the table at the moment are really about what Jefferson City is going to look like in the next 20 years.

"When you look at having a "mega school,' versus two high schools, when you look at the divisiveness of what has taken place at East Elementary ... a lot of this conversation is about: "What role is the school district playing in defining community?'"

He added the district is home to both transient and well-established families.

"Those boundary lines, those district lines (defining the elementary schools), have been set," he said. "Whatever we start to do, we need to look at the whole system and whether that holistic system is sufficient. If it is sufficient, we can tweak it. If it is not, we need to make some hard decisions about what the future of education in Jefferson City is going to look like. And how do we make it as inclusive as possible?"

For Hendricks, ensuring the schools are inclusive and comfortable for all races and ethnicities is at least part of the challenge, he said.

As manager of the Trust Department at Hawthorn Bank and president of the Jefferson City Public Schools Foundation, Dan Renfrow has said he wants to bring his business sense to the board. He believes a breakdown in communication is the district's No. 1 challenge, he said.

"I don't think there's communication between the teachers and the administrative staff," he told listeners. "I don't think we can do anything - going forward - until we solve that ability to be able to communicate so we know, from a board perspective, what's happening in the classrooms, and that we know what is and isn't working and what can be fixed."

No matter what leaders try to do, nothing will work until that communication breach is resolved, Renfrow said.

Michael Couty - who serves as juvenile court administrator at the Prenger Family Center, where he is responsible for all juvenile justice issues in Cole County - cited a lack of community confidence in the school district as its No. 1 challenge.

Couty said community, teachers, parents and students all have expressed a lack of confidence in the district's ability to tackle problems." The district has to get the confidence back from the community," County exclaimed. "We promise a lot, but there's no performance at the end."

Couty said the board must follow through on its assurances.

"If we're going to listen and let the community have input, we've got to let the community have input. Not picking and choosing when we will listen and when we will not listen," he said.

Couty has campaigned on the need for more transparency.

"I truly believe that's an area we have to take a stand and have open up our board meetings to the community so we have access," he said. "If we know we are going to have hot topics, there's no way you're going to have a board meeting in the location it's in right now."

He suggested large crowds could better be accommodated at the Miller Performing Arts Center, and he wants to expand school patrons' ability to listen to board discussions.

"Again, I've always said if we could stream our meetings, you wouldn't have to leave your home," Couty concluded.

Joy Sweeney, the sole incumbent, cited the district's "climate and culture" problems as its No. 1 challenge. She was likely referring to accusations - from teachers, parents and students - that administrators have not been listening to their concerns.

Last year, an external survey by the Missouri National Education Association revealed 49 percent of teachers felt bullied by their superiors, and two teachers filed lawsuits.

Speaking about the need to improve the district's "climate and culture," Sweeney said: "I believe that with every ounce of my being. I'm working hard to establish relationships at every level, in every area, in every building."

Sweeney said she's made it a goal to visit all the buildings regularly.

"I believe we and the community and our business partners and taxpayers all need to be working together to restore the climate and culture of this district so we are the district of excellence that we all want to be," she said.

A retired health care worker and volunteer, Pam Murray recently served on the district's Long Range Facilities Planning Committee.

Quickly summing up what others had said before her, Murray reiterated, "I think all the things the other candidates have mentioned are real problems and they are all indicative of a failure of leadership."

As the campaign season has unfolded, Murray hasn't been shy about voicing concerns.

At the forum, she said: "When it comes to every major decision facing the school district, there has been a failure to involve the community, a failure to have discussion. There's just been an attitude of: "We know what's best and this is what will be. You shouldn't worry about this ... you shouldn't worry about that ... and there will be no discussion, and the vote will inevitably be 7-0."

If elected, Murray said she wants to turn that around by having transparency and by engaging the public in discussion.

She noted major curriculum changes - such as the launching of professional academies and changes to block scheduling at the high school - should not have been rolled out without first being presented to the community.

"You want to roll it out in an organized manner, so that the public ... has the option to accept it, long before it becomes a decision," she said.