Candidates for the JC Schools Board of Education at Wednesday's forum agreed on many of the issues facing JC Schools, though they differed on priorities.
Candidates answered a series of questions from News Tribune Managing Editor Gary Castor.
Though school board member is a non-partisan position, Castor asked about candidates' political leanings as an indicator of how they'd govern.
Ellinger and Gresham shared they were Republicans, and they felt that was an important factor in how they would conduct themselves.
Bloemke-Warren, however, said she felt it was irrelevant.
"This is a non-partisan race ... and part of my platform is that I am rejecting partisan politics in this race. I don't want to adhere to either party. I think my personal national political leanings don't matter in this race," she said.
Leonard said she was a moderate conservative but wanted to focus on the needs of teachers and students first.
Castor asked candidates to weigh in on whether the school board should have held off in choosing a new superintendent to allow new board members a say and what their priorities for the superintendent were.
Bloemke-Warren, Gresham and Leonard did not think waiting was necessary.
Bloemke-Warren said the superintendent needs to advocate for public schools and be a good steward of district money.
Gresham said he hopes the superintendent will focus on core subjects like math, science, reading, writing and history.
Leonard hoped new board members would be allowed to articulate their expectations to the new superintendent.
Ellinger said the board should have waited, considering two of the seven school board members will be new in April. He said the new superintendent needs to focus on discipline and teacher pay incentives.
Castor also asked candidates whether they would bring a system of paying administration based on outcomes to Jefferson City.
All candidates expressed interest in some form of incentive for great teaching.
Gresham said he would be very interested, since he had seen through personal experience in the Marine Corps that performance matters, while Leonard said she would be willing to learn more about that sort of model.
Ellinger said he'd like incentives for teachers and administrators.
Bloemke-Warren said she didn't want to see one-time incentives, but would be interested in permanent pay increases.
Candidates were asked if they believed teachers were sufficiently compensated.
Leonard said Jefferson City does a better job than most districts in the area but that there was room to improve.
Ellinger said, "When you incentivize based upon performance, you get the opportunity for teachers to say, 'I can make more by working and getting results in my classroom,' and if they need training, they can get training for it."
Bloemke-Warren said in general, teachers were not sufficiently compensated, and a failure to invest in teachers could create a vacuum.
Gresham pointed out one of his own teachers: "I may be unique in this building in that I have one of my high school teachers sitting out here in the audience. I don't know what his salary was, but I can tell you one thing: he made an impact in my life that was beyond whatever compensation he was making."
Castor also asked about recruiting competitively and recruiting teachers that are representative of the students they teach.
Ellinger said great teachers come from all ethnicities, genders and skin colors. He said it was vital to create incentive packages that would attract the best teachers.
Bloemke-Warren said she'd like to see a partnership with Lincoln, a historically black university, to bring teachers into the district. She said it shouldn't be a choice between quality teaching and representation.
"Black students need to see black teachers. They need to see people in leadership that look like them. There will be better outcomes for those students if they see people that look like them," she added.
Gresham said he was more concerned with teacher performance, rather than "demographic percentages."
Leonard said representation was a good goal, but "I don't want to see us have a goal though that will limit us from hiring the best educators out there."
Castor asked candidates to give their opinion on the board's policy of reviewing school boundaries every three years and what factors should play into any changes.
Bloemke-Warren said socioeconomic status was an important factor, but it should be weighed against the impact to students.
Gresham said he felt population should be the driving factor, and socioeconomic status was not a good reason to "uproot" students.
Leonard said she would like to see minimal impact to students and equal treatment of schools.
Ellinger said three years was an arbitrary period, and said crowding should determine when those conversations are had. He also supported keeping families together and close to their schools.
Castor asked candidates about negative comments toward some schools in survey feedback from the boundary line process.
Three candidates had a personal connection to the schools mentioned; Gresham's wife taught at one, Leonard's son went there and Bloemke-Warren's daughter attended one. All were disheartened by some of the comments.
Gresham and Ellinger said some of the views could be based on low expectations or perceptions of low quality education in some schools, and improving all schools in the district was necessary.
Bloemke-Warren said of her daughter's experience: "She can look out the window of her classroom and see a multi-million dollar athletic center being built in a room where she wears a coat in the winter because it's so cold in her classroom and doesn't have air conditioning when it's hot. This is why there are haves and have-nots, and this is why measuring it out by socioeconomic standards matters."
Castor asked candidates about Critical Race Theory and their views on whether it could be appropriate to censor an age-appropriate discussion on "uncomfortable" facts of American history.
Leonard said CRT was not being taught in Jefferson City and that it was a nonissue. Bloemke-Warren agreed and said age-appropriate lessons shouldn't be censored.
Ellinger and Gresham said all history should be taught, but teachings that certain groups or individuals were superior or inferior should not.
Castor asked candidates whether they would propose allowing people to bring an issue to the board publicly without it being on the agenda.
Ellinger said he would: "When we limit discussion to what the body determines is the only appropriate issue to talk about, we eliminate the ability for new issues to be brought in front of the board."
Gresham and Bloemke-Warren said they'd like to see a "true open forum" as well.
Leonard said she thought the priority should be encouraging people to take care of their issues at the building level.
Video from the forum is available on the City of Jefferson YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/cojits.
Elizabeth Underwood/News Tribune photo: Marc Ellinger questions from News Tribune Managing Editor Gary Castor on Wednesday at City Hall.
Elizabeth Underwood/News Tribune photo: Anne Bloemke-Warren answers questions from News Tribune Managing Editor Gary Castor on Wednesday at City Hall.
Elizabeth Underwood/News Tribune photo: Adam Gresham answers questions from News Tribune Managing Editor Gary Castor on Wednesday at City Hall.
Erika Leonard answers questions from News Tribune Managing Editor Gary Castor on Wednesday at City Hall. (Elizabeth Underwood/News Tribune photo)