Board Candidates Debate At Tuesday Night Forum

By Andrew Atwal
andrew.atwal@yankton.net

Yankton School District (YSD) school board candidates gathered at the Technical Education Center on Tuesday night to debate more issues pertaining to the district, most notably the districts budget crisis.

There are two openings on the school board, with four people running for the positions. Candidates are incumbent Jim Fitzgerald and newcomers Butch Becker, Wayne Wurth and Sarah Carda.

Questions were asked by audience members, and the first question brought up dealt with how candidates are prepared for the challenge of being a school board member.

Fitzgerald said this election is not as big a challenge for him as it was the first time he ran. He said he has been prepared for the position by baptism by serving on the board for the past three years.

Wurth said he would be prepared by hiring competent people and by trusting the people from whom he gets the information.

Carda noted that her experience working at Mount Marty should help her adjust to a position on the school board, while Becker added his experience in budgeting for businesses would give him some experience managing budgets.

Each candidate was also asked about his or her ability to represent the interests of the entire district.

“Teachers are most important in education,” Wurth said. “The teachers and students is what education is all about, and we need to make students and teachers the priority.”

Carda said the school board is representing students and sets forth to educate students.

“We need to take into account the importance of teachers,” she said. “We also need to be fiscally responsible and be able to do the most with the least.”

Becker noted his ability to understand issues and weighing their options as a way he would be able to represent the entire district.

Fitzgerald spoke of the role of the district in educating youth. He cited the high test scores and graduation rates of children that attend YSD.

Another question that candidates were asked dealt with staff morale.

“I don’t think the staff that work in management have a low morale,” Becker said. “If issues arise, I hope staff members can bring up their problems (to the administration).”

Fitzgerald said when finances become a problem, staff morale will decline, regardless of industry.

“Even though the morale of teachers might be low, I don’t think that deters them from doing the best job they can,” he said.

Wurth said he definitely thinks there is a big morale problem, and said he would oppose wasteful spending.

Carda thinks there probably is a morale issue as well.

“The question becomes whether the issue is externally or internally driven,” she said. “It’s an important issue, and with budget reductions, it’s only human nature to have a lower morale when you begin wondering about job security.”

All of the board candidates agreed they wouldn’t necessarily know what to cut from the budget without being able to take more time to look at the budget and the implications of cutting certain programs.

Other topics candidates spoke about included the sentinel bill, the role of the board and superintendent, elementary school class sizes and the ability to attract top-notch teachers to YSD in spite of financial problems.

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