Welcome to our online chat with school board candidate Rich Minder.

The chat took place on Thursday, February 20, at 4:30 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 Rich Minder.

Moderator: Let’s take our first question …

Jonathan: Mr. Minder: How would you address the (rather large) teacher-cost discrepancy between students at East Heights School and Deerfield Elementary School?

Rich Minder: First of all, I think we need to acknowledge up front that children coming from middle class families come to school more prepared to learn. According to the 2000 census there were about 83 children 0-6 years of age living below the federal poverty level within a one mile radius of East Heights. 77% of 5th graders at East Heights scored below satisfactory on the 2001-2002 Kansas State Reading Assessment. A Deerfield this figure is onl 21%. We are doing much better at teaching the students at Deerfield than at East Heights. At NY the figure is 57% of 5th graders scoring below satisfactory. Adding the East Height children to NY school will not improve the scores or improve the education these children receive.

Parent: What is your view of the district’s plan to move all the early childhood programs from neighborhood schools to one location?

Rich Minder: First, I think this question should call into question the estimated savings to the district of 1.4 million dollars by closing East Heights and two other neighborhood schools. I would also ask where we would account for the additional cost to families of these children who now must transport their children from neighborhood schools to a distant location. Another concern that I have about this plan has to do with the original intent of the preschools. Are we trying to help children come to school better ready to succeed? Attending a neighborhood school provides the child with a secure sense of his or her place in the world. This is an important place from which to make a productive transition to elementary school. This is especially true of kids who come to school with many more economic and social disadvantages than middle class children with more resources.

Concerned Citizen: Would you support a different itemized bond issue in order to let the taxpayers make choices ASAP? Do you feel LHS is as important an issue as the closing of the schools? Basically, please tell us what are your priorities.

¢6News video: Minder tells online chatters that he opposes school closings

Rich Minder: I would support a different bond issue that addresses the important capital improvement needs of our schools as soon as possible. I would have to look carefully at how we could successfully and equitably “itemize” a bond issue. I am not sure that it would be much more fair to the voters to ask them to choose between a new South JH and some other needed capital improvements than it is to ask them to choose between these needs and the expresssed need to maintain and invest in neighborhood schools. . I basically don’t have a problem with what capital improvements we have in the bond. I would support the inclusion of facilities for a vocational technical program but am not sure that I would hold up an entire bond issue over it. As to closing neighborhood elementary schools, I believe that this community has clearly placed a value on neighborhood elementary schools especially in neighborhoods with high proportion of economically disadvantaged children. I don’t believe that we need to present the voters with a choice between closing neighborhood elementary schools and improvements to LHS. I think the argument that we must close neighborhood elementary schools should stand on its own. I will say this, however, East Heights has shown noticeable improvement since we began making investments in leadership and equipment at that school. Why should we stop now? Let’s make the kind of investments in East Heights that will not only lead to improvements in the performance of her children, but provide a positive educational contribution to the families in that neighborhood. I hope this gives the per son asking the quuestion a sense of my priorities.

Burdett: Various people have reported that they don’t know where you stand on the current bond issue and on the issue of closing East Heights, Centennial, and Riverside. Could you provide your positions on these issues?

Rich Minder: I am not apposed to a well considered bond issue. But this is the wrong bond issue at the wrong time for Lawrence.

With respect to school closings, I am not in favor of closing any of the three schools. In order for me to support the closing of a neighborhood school, I would have to believe that the families involved have taken ownership of the plan to relocate and support that plan. I don’t get the sense that in any of these cases, the families’ concerns have been heard and addressed in the consolidation plan put forth by the current Board.

Moderator: OK, we have time for one more question ….

Inquiring Parent: There has been much talk about saving our neighborhood schools. Will your child attend your designated neighborhood school next year?

Rich Minder: Sophia will attend NY Elementary next year. We currently reside in the Cordley District. We have been working with a group of future neighbors to build a cohousing community called Delaware Street Commons in the NY district. We enrolled Sophia at Brookcreek Learning Center’s NY preschool classroom partly because we recognize the importance of stability and fewer disruptive changes in a child’s transition to public school. I would wish the same opportunity for this much security for all the families with young children in the district.

Moderator: We want to thank Mr. Minder for joining us for tonight’s live chat. Our next chat is with candidate Ron Powell, and it is scheduled to begin at 5:30 this evening.