Mar. 28, 2021 3p
(WGTD)---The opinions of the six candidates running for three seats on the Kenosha School Board vary on how they grade the school board’s response to the pandemic.
In a reversal of an earlier vote last summer, the board decided to begin the school year in a hybrid mode, one of the few large districts in the state to do so at the time. A couple of months into the school year, the board then ordered the district to go all virtual for a time around Thanksgiving when cases were spiking. In January, in-person teaching returned as an option.
Each vote was not without controversy.
Incumbent candidate Mary Modder voted with the majority of the board on key votes.
The other incumbent in the race, Todd Battle, leaned more toward in-person instruction, finding himself in the minority at times.
Addressing the issue in a recent Education Matters candidates’ forum, challenger Todd Price sympathized with the tough decisions the board had to make. "I'm really not going to go through and relitigate their decisions," Price said. "I will say this, though. Right now it's pretty clear that our children--our youngest children--really need to be in the schools to play with their friends They need their friends more than they need an i-Pad."
Price is a professor of education at National Louis University.
Challenger Valerie Douglas, a long-time substitute teacher, said she believes the board put too little stock in the opinions of teachers as they made their decisions. "Community members were definitely well represented in this discussion," Douglas said during the forum. "But the people that we relied on the most...it almost felt like an after thought."
Another challenger, project manager Eric Meadows, has been highly critical of the board’s performance on the issue, taking the position that school buildings should’ve been open all along. "I think we have focused on one of the many harms our kids face at the expense of others. COVID is something to worry about but is it more dangerous than the mental health crisis that's been inflicted on all of our students this year?," Meadows asked rhetorically.
The fourth challenger, retired Zion firefighter Brooks Litz, also criticized the board. "Back in November when they decided to go completely virtual, they didn't take into account how it would affect the parents and the businesses in our community," he said.
The election is Tuesday, Apr. 6th.
The complete forum is here.
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