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Schools

Webster Groves School Board Candidates Discuss Open Enrollment, Diversity

Four candidates vying for three open seats on the Webster Groves Board of Education gathered for a community forum at Hixson Middle School.

Candidates for the Webster Groves Board of Education gathered Wednesday evening at to discuss issues facing the district and answer residents' questions. The forum, hosted and moderated by the League of Women Voters, addressed topics including open enrollment, diversity and local control.

Each of the four candidates gave a two-minute opening statement, briefly highlighting their qualifications. After the opening statements, the moderator read questions from the community members present, and gave each of the candidates one minute to answer.

Several questions from the audience asked candidates to address the issue of open enrollment. All of them praised the Voluntary Interdistrict Transfer (VIT) system that Webster Groves participates in, and said that the system brings an important element of diversity to the schools.

"It's something that has really enriched our district community. We currently have about 5 percent of our students who are coming from St. Louis City into our schools, and it really gives our students a broad perspective," said. "Exposure to people from different backgrounds and different circumstances is a really important life lesson for our children to have."

expressed her worry that open enrollment may decimate the VIT program and the feeling of a close-knit community that local schools provide, while held that it is educators' responsibility to provide a quality education for students, no matter where they live. talked about the funding issues that would need to be reconciled between the two and said that open enrollment would essentially take away local control of the district.

O'Brien also talked about the importance of local control. She said that while some decisions made in the Missouri legislature may seem like good ideas for the rural school districts that make up most of Missouri, they can be harmful for metropolitan districts like Webster Groves—something that only the people inside such districts can really understand.

When asked how the district could work with an open enrollment system, Smith talked about the importance of being sure that Webster Groves schools are equipped to handle higher volumes of students, while preserving the quality of education that Webster Groves takes pride in.

"We can only handle and hold so many students to provide a quality education and keep our level of teaching...at a quality point with our classroom size and the programs we offer," Smith said. "Open enrollment has so many different issues we need to answer before we start talking about how many students are going to come from different areas."

An audience member raised a question about the role of diversity on the board. Clendennen talked about the importance of the school board representing the diversity of its constituents, and mentioned that if neither she nor O'Brien were elected, there would be only men on the board.

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O'Brien said that diversity should not only be thought of in terms of gender and race but also the age of board members' children in order to provide perspective covering all levels of education. Addison agreed with the others, but said it shouldn't be the only thing taken into consideration.

"First and foremost, what we want is the right people on the board," Addison said. "I hope that what people will do, is that they will look and they won't say that the board needs to have somebody just because they're English on the board, but in fact will choose the people that are best qualified."

Other topics of discussion for the evening included the responsibility of the school board to back up its teachers and administrators and defer to them on day-to-day operations of the district.

The issue of teacher tenure came up, and candidates agreed that while job security and professional respect for teachers is important, there should be vigorous evaluation systems in place at the local level to ensure they are, as Smith put it, "providing the quality education they were hired for."

Several audience members asked candidates about their individual qualifications and contributions to the board. Amy O'Brien and Emerson Smith are each running for a second term on the school board and emphasized the value of keeping experienced and consistent leadership in light of the complex issues the board is in the process of dealing with.

David Addison said that his background in numbers-crunching and years of involvement in the school district would allow him to "hit the ground running."

"Our community invests heavily in our schools, so I think it's important to show to the community what a good investment that is, how that is really benefitting everybody," Addison said. "We've got to demonstrate all along that we are good stewards of their money. I think we've done a very good job thus far, but we need to make sure that's something that we always keep our eye on.

Amy Clendennen said she could bring a unique perspective to the board as an attorney who works regularly with other school boards and districts in the St. Louis area.

"I think it's unusual to have a candidate with the kind of day-to-day experience working with school board and administrators that I have. I really feel I have a responsibility to do my part, both as a parent and as a community member," she said.

The four candidates are vying for three open seats on the Webster Groves Board of Education. The election is on Tuesday.

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