Meet the Candidates: William Lycett

William Lycett

Running for: Southern Lehigh School Board

Political Affiliation: Libertarian

Residence: Upper Saucon

Education: Peters Township High School 1984, McMurray, PA; B.S. Management, Pennsylvania State University 1988

Profession/Work Experience: Owner, WRL Training & Consulting

Elected Positions: N/A

Why are you Running? Providing for the education needs of our children with limited funds is the challenge faced by many school districts. I plan to "listen" to the community and review alternatives that provide a quality education with available resources that prepares our children for life after graduation.

If elected, what would you like to accomplish? The pension issue should be addressed in a responsible way with limited impact of the vision of the school district. Listening to the parents is my key to success!

FORUM QUESTIONS

Do you support pay freezes for school employees for all positions?

I think it’s a very interesting question. Do I support it? If it would be justified in asking and voting yes for it. Last week in the West Chester School District, the administrators and teachers came to the school board and said “freeze us for a year.” I’d much rather be in a situation where teachers are coming suggesting it based upon their preference as opposed to saying that when it comes to our kids that the only thing we can look at in terms of a freeze is the salary. It is the absolutely largest contributor to the budget. But it needs to be in balance with everything else. So ultimately if that was balancing the budget, it’s something I would vote yes for, but I think you have to look at everything else first.

Do you think the number of administrators and their salaries has outgrown the district?

I guess my uneducated response would be yes. I think that when you have limited resources, I’d rather put them in the classroom than have a number of administrators that are not necessarily contributing to something as value. One of the things I understand is that there was a new principal placed in the Lower Milford Elementary School at a salary over $100,000. And I kind of question why that could not have been a shared responsibility with one of the other principals as opposed to hiring someone unique to a school that has declining enrollment. So the status quo in doing things the same way “just because,” I think, needs to be questioned more and move for resources that make sense and provide value.

Do you see a need for a teachers union?

What concerns me more about unions is the leadership of a union that doesn’t necessarily have the best interests of the members in mind and they have their own personal agenda. I grew up in Western PA; my stepfather lost his job in the early '80s working for a steel plant that was shut down. There needs to be kind of a cohesive idea of how the representative parties want to be represented and an agreement. I think everybody should be moving toward objectives for a union and for the school district in this case that better the students. When there’s personal agendas that get in the way, it’s a world of concern.

Do you support charter schools and school vouchers?

I’m fine with both. I think the competition and the idea of competition would raise the results being produced by any of the schools. I’ve been part of communities where charter schools existed. They did exceptionally well. The parents that placed their kids there were happy with the results, and the school district hasn’t suffered because of them. Being from a state where the real estate tax was a very small portion of how schools were funded, the real estate tax in Ohio where I used to live prior to moving back to PA is dramatically different than what it is in PA. But they still have schools with good results and charter schools in sub-communities. And bottom line, there wasn’t that much of a disparity in the education or in the way in which it was funded.

If you were faced between making cuts that would negatively affect education or increase property taxes what would you do?

Thinking about what I used to pay in 2000-2001 for my real estate tax, it’s a very, very difficult choice. And as I said in my earlier comments, I think you have to look at everything else first. Bottom line we need to produce results, and the results are not PSSA tests. The results are kids who can actually think creatively, who can accomplish mathematical problems, can read, can write.  It’s not how they perform on the PSSA that helps to fund this district in the three weeks that are taken prior to teaching it. So when it comes down to results, I need to see the results that they’re producing, and ask are they being funded appropriately?

What would you do to improve cooperation with township supervisors?

I think we need to get the personal agendas out of the way and just stick with the facts and what’s best for community as a whole. I served on the Parks and Recreation committee, so it’s kind of a personal question for me because as the chair of Parks and Recreation, the township supervisor came and presented and was willing to fund a field over behind the Hopewell School for access to the Curly Horse property that the township has behind that development.  It was kicked around, and it’s been kicked around, and how many years later, there’s been no improvement to the field behind Hopewell School. That could be a nice athletic field and there’s no park there. But if the township was willing to fund it 100 percent all the school board had to do was say, “Makes sense, let’s do it,” but they couldn’t find a way to do it because of what I understood to be personal agendas.

Studies have shown nutrition affects school performance. Do you believe the food service program should be changed?

I don’t know if I’m qualified to speak on this because all four of my kids pack their lunch primarily because one in particular would buy three lunches if he could. I think from a healthy choice perspective, it should be there. I think also from a perspective of that study - are kids getting a good breakfast, because that’s going to influence their education. And how do we respond to that problem more so than what they get for lunch, because they’re discharged shortly after lunch in a lot of cases anyhow (from school). And they’re going home to have a nice sugary snack. But by that same token I think we need to look at what’s in the cafeteria, and how it’s provided, and make sure there are choices and that they’re appropriate for the age of the child and that they can make an appropriate choice for what they should or shouldn’t be eating.

You have mentioned salaries but what are some other cuts than need to be made?

The pensions are probably the biggest issue that’s facing not only the school district but facing your local, county, state governments. Now they have to show that it’s funded. And it has to be funded to pay for the pensions, which is something the teachers signed up for, that the school board signed up for that’s got to be addressed. And that’s probably the biggest issue next to salaries. But I think also you have to look at how the money is being spent. Every time I walk into the intermediate school I wonder why there are television sets in there that aren’t being used? Where could it be better spent in the district? I think you’ve got to question things. There has to be alternatives and there has to be two or three different solutions in how to fund something, or do you need it?

How important is it to attend school board meetings and serve on committees?

I think if you’re on the board or a committee, you need to participate.  If that means being at the meeting, you need to be at the meeting. With that said, will there be some meetings that I will miss? Yeah. I run my own business, and I may have to be out of town. But I will still make my points known and get as much information as I can to try and make an influence. In terms of participation in the community, I’ve participated in sports and many other things. I’ve participated on parks, and I think the community involvement via participation at meetings, via advisory committees, I think that’s essential to have a well- functioning board.  I’d like to see more of it. I think it’s probably one of the most important things a school board could do.

How would you bring cyber school/charter school students back?

I don’t think it’s that big of an issue. I’m in favor of charter schools; I’m in favor of school vouchers. I think a competitive landscape and letting parents choose where they want to have their kids is important. And just because it’s brick and mortar doesn’t mean it’s the best way to do something. I work in the pharmaceutical industry. I train account managers. They’re the individuals who call on the health care companies. In the last 100 years, name two entities that have not changed the basic way in which they deliver their service or what they provide. One is healthcare and the other is schools. The basic way in which it’s done hasn’t changed in the last century. It’s still the same process. There are other ways of doing things. I think even within our walls we need to look at that and how it can be done to get a better result.

What is the state percentage of surplus dollars allowed per district?

My understanding is that the state says the minimum that you have to carry is your surplus, and that’s 5 percent. Are we over that? Yes, we are. Why? I haven’t been on the school board, so I don’t fully understand how we got there, but we do have more than 5 percent currently sitting in the bank collecting interest.