[10/28/04]Tuesday, Warren County voters will fill seats from District 1 and District 5 on the Vicksburg Warren School District’s Board of Trustees. Candidates were provided questions and their answers follow.

Today, the candidates for District 1: Jerry Boland, Steve Elwart, Shawn McKeever, Bryan Pratt and Brenda Theriot.

Please state what you believe are qualifications that will help you be an effective school board member?

Boland I have had children in the Vicksburg Warren School District for 16-plus years. I have been involved with many school functions including PTO, fund raisers, school parties and dances. I have worked with the band, art and athletic programs. I have always supported activities when parent involvement was needed. I have been involved in many community functions and special events. I have worked with students searching for employment. I have a complete concept of the needs of our young people today.

Elwart I have been involved in our schools for 20 years now, with my children and my grandchildren. I know about our schools and the education issues we face. I have also been involved with higher education through programs at Hinds, MSU, ASU and USM. I am also a member of the education workshop of “Blueprint Mississippi,” a statewide initiative on education. These activities give me a broad scope of what direction our education needs to take.

McKeever The Mississippi Code simply states that one must be a qualified elector in the district that one seeks office, which I am. More importantly, my experience in the commercial nuclear power industry brings a solid background in seeking out excellence and implementing positive change within an organization. I have a vision for my children and the children of our district that includes specific goals to address issues needing change.

Pratt Because I have two children in the school system I will have to live with the effects of the decisions that I make as a board member. I am a product of the Vicksburg Warren school system. I have broad and diverse support in the community that will assist in building consensus instead of division. I will bring the people’s voice back to the school board by including the community in the planning and implementing programs.

Theriot Although I believe that the other candidates are qualified in their own way, I am the candidate most qualified for this position. Because of my nine years of experience working in the school district, I have knowledge of many programs and policies that the other candidates have not been exposed to. Even though the board’s duties deal with policy and not day-to-day activities at the school level, my “day-to-day” experience will enhance my service and input to the board.

Are there specific problems or shortcomings you hope to address? If so, please describe them. If not, please explain what you think are the biggest challenges faced by the district.

Boland The most important challenge we face today is continuing to educate our young people in a changing society. We must always have a vision of future needs. We can accomplish this by supporting an administration with innovative ideas. As a board member I will continue to be an ambassador for our schools and community. We must reflect our positive enthusiasm. It is important to have a sound foundation for our district to support our students’ development.

Elwart All of our schools, except one, are Level 3 schools. With the talented teachers we have, we can do better. Some say that these numbers don’t matter. The numbers do matter. They matter to teachers, parents and to people and businesses that are looking at moving into our community. The board of trustees needs to work with the school administration to raise these scores. I want to be part of that process.

McKeever We face two big challenges: improving our achievement levels and managing a large budget with shrinking funds. Many people do not like talking about achievement levels. However, growing businesses now use achievement levels to measure the health of our public school system. I have made it an issue because I believe that if we don’t talk about it, nothing will change. Currently, all but one of our schools is a Level 3 school. I know Vicksburg-Warren can do better.

Pratt Every year the school system has been trying to cope with its increasing responsibilities. Today teachers are not just teaching children the three R’s. Our teachers are faced with teaching some of our children basic life skills. This is all above and beyond teaching the basic curriculum needed to improve our test scores. We need to find ways to allow the teachers to focus on teaching while we still meet the increasing needs of our students.

Theriot In recent years the high schools have changed from a straight schedule, where students meet classes every day, to a block schedule where students meet classes every other day. Average daily attendance has dropped since this change, so I feel strongly that the high schools go back to a straight schedule, not only, hopefully, to improve attendance, but also to give the students the consistency of seeing each other every day and not just every other day. Also some student-handbook policies are not being fully enforced and I feel we need to either enforce them or re-evaluate them.

The Strategic Plan adopted by the board in 1999 made “communication” Strategy No. 1 in its action plan. What is your assessment of school-community relations now? How, if at all, do you think communication might be improved?

Boland Communication must be used for positive directions. We must keep it simple and consistent. As a board member I will keep communication as a top priority with the community on all issues involving our schools. We must have input and stay informed with changing legislation and how it affects our administration, teachers and students. TV-23 in board meetings is a good tool we can use more often to highlight the achievements of our students, teachers and parent involvement.

Elwart The feeling in the community is that if you do not have a child in the education system, you have no stake in it. How many people even know we have a strategic plan? The community needs to participate in educating our children. The board can by letting people know what the goals of our school system are. I will have periodic open meetings in the community so people can learn more about where we are going in education.