If Lawrence doesn’t keep its neighborhoods strong, it’s not going to keep its schools strong, Michael Pomes contends.

“And that has to be our priority,” the 40-year-old school board candidate added.

Pomes, chief of the underground storage tank section in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in Topeka, is running for one of four open school board seats that will be contested in Tuesday’s election.

He is opposed to a $59 million bond issue that includes the closure of East Heights and Centennial schools, and he is for holding the school board more accountable for the decisions it makes.

“The district has a long and well-established history of poor budget management,” said Pomes, who has geology degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Fort Hays State University and Kansas University. “I am personally concerned about what I consider to be a very bad habit of doing bad business and not taking the interests of the students to heart.”

It is past time for the community to request an independent audit to see how the school district is spending its money, he said, suggesting the district has spent too much on administration while shorting teachers and students.

The proposed bond issue would just be a repeat of history, said Pomes, who earned 6.89 percent of the primary vote.

Not only will it fail to save a significant amount of money or recruit top-notch teachers, but it will also drain district resources away from students.

Furthermore, Pomes said, closing schools in low-income neighborhoods is “morally objectionable.”

¢See a recent chat transcript and pre-primary multimedia profiles¢Submit a question for the chat with Michael Pomes at 1 p.m. today

Pomes, who supports building a new South Junior High and renovating Lawrence High, said a smaller bond with options would have been more appropriate than the all-or-nothing deal to be placed before voters Tuesday.

Linking school improvements and school closings in the bond issue was a mistake, Pomes said, although he does see a need to cut expenses.

And his suggestions for saving money are varied, ranging from trimming administration to having people who live near schools cut the schoolyard lawns.

A member of a National Guard field artillery unit, 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 is secretary of the Park Hill Neighborhood Assn., and his focus is on maintaining neighborhoods like the one where his family lives.

Pomes wants schools within walking distance of students’ homes, and he wants to ensure there’s a long-term plan to keep them there.

“I think that the city, the county and the school district need to work more closely together on planning,” he said. “And when they do that, the school district really needs to listen.”