School Board Candidates Face Off in Second Forum

Ankeny voters had another chance Sunday night to question the four incumbents and three of the four challengers seeking seats on the Ankeny school board.

Incumbents Aaron Johnson, Andrew Martin, Trent Murphy and Leslie Petersen faced off against challengers Dustin Graber, Brad Huss and Mike Rooney at the forum hosted by the Ankeny Parents Association and the Elementary Parent Teacher Organizations.

A fourth challenger, Stephanie Jorgenson, was unable to attend the forum.

Ankeny school leaders have been criticized by some district residents over the costs tied to building two new high schools, the first of which opened for use this month. District leaders have pledged to lower its property tax rate, one of the highest in the metro area.

Brian Gillette of the APA moderated the forum held at the Ankeny High School auditorium. He asked candidates a series of questions, some submitted by members of the APA and PTOs and others by audience members. Each candidate had a specific amount of time to respond.

Each day this week, Ankeny Patch will publish a question asked of candidates, as well as excerpts from their responses. Today, we will introduce readers to each candidate who participated in the forum and highlight what their priorities will be if elected.

Q: If you are elected and could add three agenda items to upcoming board meetings, what would be your topics and why?

Johnson: My first priority is to complete Ankeny Centennial High School. I take issue with people who suggest we haven’t involved the community. They were a very important piece to this puzzle. My second priority is to continue working through the transition and make it as smooth as possible. My third is to open elementary nine, which is on track to open next fall.

Rooney: I have three things — build out these two new high schools that I’m fully in support of. We need to build out football and baseball fields, all the supportive areas these kids need. Two, we need to lower the number on these projects. We need to go back and revisit the numbers of all these projects and see what we can pull money out of. Third, we need to figure out where we can save money on taxes in 2012. We need to really focus on numbers to complete these project as cheap as we can and effectively as we can so we can really focus on these kids.

Martin: First, finishing the second high school and making sure it is implemented correctly to double opportunities for our children. Second, a majority of our time needs to be on academics. Third, we have a 25-percent tax reduction that needs to occur. Next year, I’m convinced the entire increase (since 2008) will be gone and I am committed to making that happen.

Graber: My top three priorities are very clear. First is student achievement. We need to look at the facts and do an honest assessment. Our ACT scores last year actually went down. Second is teacher morale. I am concerned when my first-grader goes into school. I want to make sure that her teacher is motivated, is listened to, feels valued and is ready to teach. Number three is to spend wisely.

Murphy: Although I agree with Dustin on some points, I don’t with his numbers. Student achievement is at an all-time high. ACT scores are up, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and Educational Development scores are up.  Our climate, culture and curriculum is changing to meet the needs of kids today. My number one priority is to make sure teachers have the resources they need and the community has the knowledge they need to be comfortable with us moving forward. Second, we need confident teachers in every classroom. Finally, I think getting the tax rate down is a priority. We’re on track to that and I want to fulfill that commitment.

Petersen: My three items are academics times three. The top thing on my list is technology and really integrating it in the learning and teaching that goes on. I also think it's critical we focus on all students and ensure success for them all. We can do that with individualized learning plans for each one. Finally, we need to be fiscally responsible. We’ve had to increase taxes. The community didn’t like it but we knew it was the right thing to do at the time we did. It was temporary and I’m committed to doing what we said we were going to do to reduce it.

Huss: My highest priority is the financial side of our district. I’ve heard it called a tax spike, but the reality is our taxes have been increasing for years. I think we need to take a good look at how we can change that. I see no way we can finish projects without further increasing taxes. Second, I want to look at teacher morale. In general, our teachers feel like they’re just a cog in a machine. The third thing I’d like to look into would be education and the experience of our students in class, which really ties to my second goal.

Here are the topics Ankeny Patch will highlight this week:

• Tuesday — School district taxes
• Wednesday — The district facilities plan
• Thursday — The district's current curriculum
• Friday — Student achievement
• Saturday — District communication skills
  
• Sunday — What makes the candidates unique and why you should vote for them