Pomes says neighborhoods need more input in school decisions
Just think of his campaign road show as “Mr. Pomes’ Neighborhood.”
“I think neighborhoods need to have more input into the Lawrence school board, particularly when you start closing schools,” said Michael Pomes, a school board candidate and secretary of Park Hill Neighborhood Assn.
“If elected to the school board, I intend to become a point of contact for neighborhood issues.”
Pomes, 39, is chief of the underground storage tank section in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in Topeka. He’s also in a National Guard field artillery unit.
His geology degrees are from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Fort Hays State University and Kansas University.
Pomes and his wife, Marsha, have a daughter who graduated in 2001 from Lawrence High School and a daughter nearly old enough to attend Broken Arrow School.
He’s among 13 candidates in Tuesday’s primary election for school board. Eight will advance to the April 1 general election.
Pomes jumped into the race hours before the filing deadline because he didn’t think there were enough candidates standing in opposition to the board’s $59 million bond for school construction. More importantly, he said, there weren’t candidates rallying against board plans to consolidate East Heights and Centennial schools.
A flurry of filings after he signed up brought to eight the number of candidates challenging wisdom of the bond and consolidation.
“I’m happy to see there are more like-minded neighborhood candidates,” he said. “If we all can get elected, then we can be effective in making sure that neighborhoods have a voice.”
Eight candidates will survive the primary and battle for four seats on the board.
Pomes said the current board’s approach to facilities planning reflected a process that “seems to be out of control.”
Board members arrogantly act as if the bond already passed “despite indications of widespread opposition in the community,” he said.
Pomes said the board unwisely recommended a doubling of the district’s bond debt, to be paid with higher property taxes over the next 20 years, at a time when the economy is struggling.
However, Pomes does believe the plan contains about $30 million in laudable construction projects. He favors replacing South Junior High School, expanding the Lawrence Alternative High School and making additions at junior high schools to replace classroom trailers.
But consolidation of elementary schools in older neighborhoods and passage of a bond to finance expansion of other elementary schools is absurd, he said. It’s inevitable neighborhoods now struggling to fill existing schools will rebound, he said.
“It would be shortsighted to close schools and turn around and realize we have a sudden influx of students,” Pomes said.
He would prefer the board go back to the drawing board and prepare a replacement bond plan that addresses facility needs at the 18 elementary schools, four junior high buildings and three high school complexes.
The board’s policy of consolidating to the point each elementary school has at least two classes at each grade level is ill-advised, he said.
“If the numbers of students in a neighborhood can only support a single-section school, then the single-section school is right for that neighborhood.”
Pomes’ ideas for cutting extravagant district spending:
- Get rid of administrative staff.
- Reduce maintenance costs by asking neighborhood volunteers to cut school lawns.
- Don’t hire consultants for long-term planning.
- Make principals and assistant principals teach.
- Eliminate duplication of services by the district, city and county.
On the other side of the ledger, Pomes said the public schools should solicit more donations from Lawrence businesses. Companies given tax abatements should be required to provide financial or material support to the district, he said.
He’d also endorse passage of a sales tax for education.
“I know there are harsh economic realities,” Pomes said, “but I think it’s a call for us to become more creative, work a little harder.”