Chat with school board candidate Eddie Lehman

Welcome to our online chat with school board candidate Eddie Lehman.

The chat took place on Monday, February 17, at 6:45 PM and is now closed, but you can read the full transcript on this page.


Moderator: Welcome, everybody, to tonight’s chat with school board candidate Eddie Lehman.

Moderator: Let’s take our first question.

Parent: The Bond Issue, if passed, will improve our older facilities east of Iowa, that are inferior to others within our district. It also helps to reduce operational expenses so that our budget resources can be used for more meaningful items in our district budget…all at a time when the costs to acquire this debt (interest rates) are at an all time low. Why are you against this?

Eddie Lehman: I am against this bond issue as it is configured. I believe the school board has erred in the design of this bond. And yes, while the costs to acquire this debt are low, you wouldn’t go out and buy a new car just because the interest rates are low.

Rob and Jamie: What are the consequences the District will face should the Bond Issue fail to pass, and how should we address these?

Eddie Lehman: The same consequences that the District is in if the bond issue would pass. There is a shortfall in the district’s budget and this bond issue will not close it. We can addresse the shortfall through seeking alternative financing mechanisms, and yes that may mean considering taxes. But before we do that I believe we need to take a look at the efficiencies and structure of the the district’s administration.

nin: Why are you running for both the school board and City comission? They are not the same

Eddie Lehman: No, they aren’t the same. but they are similar. I am running for both because of the gap I see between the actions the school board and the city commission. Both have to address the issues of taxes, growth, and services provided to the population of Lawrence. As it is now, neither hand knows what the other is doing, nor are they required to be aware. I belive that when I am elected I will be able to work with each group while keeping in mind the needs of the other.

Eddie Lehman: That should have said the “actions of the school board and city commission.” Sorry but I am being tortured by having to type on an Apple computer.

Lisa: Could you elaborate a little bit about the statement you made about taking a look at the efficiences and structure of the district’s administration?

Eddie Lehman: As an example. curriculum design is done by a group of several people. We might want to consider paying an outside source to do the curriculum design. Human Resources has an Executive Director and a director of personnel, anytime you have one individual directly supervising a single individual there is a possibility of an inefficiency that should be explored. Then there is the whole issue of a $4.1 million dollar administrative building. Do you want more, or does that give you the general idea….

Parent: Specifically, if you oppose this configuration of the Bond Issue….What aspects do you approve of and what aspects do you oppose?

Eddie Lehman: Some items like ADA as an unfunded mandate you can’t really ignore, the other areas I think are up for grabs. I have concerns about replacing South. I toured the school and I believe that a lot of the issues with the building could be dealt with in the short-term allowing us a window of opportunity as we deal with the growth to the south and southwest.

Eddie Lehman: I do think we should consider getting students out of portables, but with as many schools that have them, to me it would seem we might actually want to consider another school. But first, before we start spending everyone else’s money I think the school district needs to get its house in order first.

Rose: If elected to both the school board and the city council, are you concerned about the time commitments and being able to serve both positions adquately? (Typing on a Mac with pride!)

Eddie Lehman: I carefully looked at the time commitments of both positions before deciding to do this and I believe I can do justice to both. Until switching over to working with students in the dorms I had worked for three years on the redesign of the Haskell personnel system doing human resource, program and management analysis. While doing this work the time involved was in the 100 hour a week range including outside research. So I think this would be in same range and I am comfortable with it. It also represents an opportunity for me to repay the city for the time I have enjoyed living here, and the school for the education my daughter has received.

nin: If you do get onto the school board, the bond should be passed now. I went to a school district that let a school bond as important as this not get passed and the State had to get involved. I know some students who would be effected by the bond postivly not negatively like you say it is.

Eddie Lehman: A) No the bond shouldn’t be passed, B) Any time you throw $59 million at a problem you will have a positive effect. The question is whether or not you are throwing your money at the problem wisely or not. C) There is no reason for the state to get involved. D) I’m sorry the school district you went to had to have the state get involved.

Jim: What are the consequences of the budget shortfall, whether or not the bond passes? How will it affect our community and our children?

Eddie Lehman: The projected, and I say projected because I think the current administration and board has used this as a scare tactic, would involve cuts. where those cuts take plus is a subject for debate. It would have some effect on our children in non-core areas, but the actual education of our children would still occur.

Parent: Are you saying South doesn’t need to be replaced? Are you saying Lawrence High doesn’t need improvements?

Moderator: (We’ll take one more question after this one.)

Eddie Lehman: South needs some improvements, but a large portion of the problems South deals with are also because of the overcrowding. The question with South is how quickly it needs to be replaced. South still does an excellent job of educating students and has for many years. If the needs for South were so urgent, why weren’t they taken care of in the previous bond issue, you know, the one where they took care of the Admistrative offices. And yes LHS does need improvements, some of which the facilities department could address.

Rose: Have you seen Randy Weisman’s presentation? He indicates that more budget cuts will be needed. Which areas do you feel protective of and which areas would you choose cut if push comes to shove?

Eddie Lehman: No, I haven’t seen his presentation. But I have seen other examples of his work, and I have concerns about the efforts I have seen so far. The one area I am protective of is the teacher in the classroom, after that everything else is a luxury.

Also if anyone else has a question, comment, information, or just wants to discuss the issues facing the school board or the city commission for that matter, can email them to me at elehman@sunflower.com

Moderator: Mr. Lehman has agreed to take one more question.

Parent: Right now, the city commission and the school board meet four times each year. As far as I know, the school board does not meet with the planning commission at all. What would you do to better improve the communication gap between these government entities if you were elected to either/both city commission and/or school board?

Eddie Lehman: Obvously being elected to both would provide the highest level of interaction, but examples of other ways of increasing the interaction would be to increase the number of meetings from four to twelve a year. Another way would be for the school board to have an ex-officio member on the planning commission. Online school board minutes would be another. And finally would be to have live, or taped for that matter, coverage of the school board.

Moderator: All right. That’ll do it for tonight’s chat with school board candidate Eddie Lehman.

Moderator: Thanks, everybody, for joining us. Our next chat is tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. with candidate Cindy Yulich.