LARGE FIELD OF CANDIDATES VYING FOR SEATS ON JACKSON R-2 BOARD; NINE HOPE TO GAIN ONE OF THREE SEATS

JACKSON - Nine candidates are competing for the three seats on the Jackson Board of Education that will be filled Tuesday.

School officials said that's the most candidates to file for a single school board election in the Jackson School District in at least 23 years. Cited as the reason for the large number of candidates is the extra seat that's being added to school boards across the state. Last year the Missouri legislature approved a bill that expands Missouri school boards from six to seven members.

The candidates emphasized they are not running against the two incumbents, but for the third seat. The nine candidates include the two incumbents Darrell Hanschen and Dr. T. Wayne Lewis and Mark Martin, Kelle A. Lane, David L. Seabaugh, Vicky McDowell, Wendy Hayes, Robert A. Francis and Charles Engelhart.

Hanschen, 41, is completing his first, three-year term on the board. He was first elected in April 1990, after defeating 15-year board member Bertha Hoffmeister. Hanschen is a pharmacist at Medicap Pharmacy in Jackson.

As a board member, Hanschen said he is committed to smaller class sizes in grades K-3 to provide a better learning environment. He said he also believes local legislators must become more involved with the educational system.

Lewis is completing his second, three-year term on the board. He has had a dental practice in Jackson for more than 25 years.

In addition to his local school board responsibilities, Lewis is also president of Region 13 of the Missouri School Board Association. He also serves on the board of directors and legislative committee of the Missouri State School Boards Association.

Lewis said as a board member his goal is to maintain the excellent and positive attitude of the professional and non-certified staff in the district and provide for orderly planning for the rapid growth of the district.

Lewis also emphasized the importance of communication between the community and state legislators on school issues and concerns such as adequate state funding for schools. "Everything you say to your legislators is important; every one of us can make a difference," he said.

Martin, 38, is the branch claims manager for Shelter Insurance Co.'s Cape Girardeau branch office. This is his second try at a school board seat; he ran unsuccessfully last April.

Martin said there are three basic ingredients for a quality education: dedicated teachers, actively involved parents, and a proper environment for learning. Martin said money is the controlling factor for each of the ingredients.

Martin said the legislature must address the issue of adequate state funding for local schools, but he opposes any state-level interference in social issues facing schools. Legislators should not tell what to teach or how to teach it, but the government does need to provide necessary funding to operate the public education system, said Martin.

Lane, who lives in New Wells with her husband, Ricki, and her two young children, said she wants to serve on the board before her children reach school age. "Our children will be in the Jackson School District, and I would like to be a part of the decision-making process of the district," she said.

Seabaugh, 35, owns and operates with his wife, the former Connie Schaper, a 360-acre row-crop farm along Highway 25 south of Jackson. Seabaugh said, if elected, he wants to make sure Jackson schools do not experience a decline in educational and discipline standards. He said he also wants to hold the school tax levy at its current level to attract new industry and at a level that will help maintain a stable tax base and provide for a quality school system.

Seabaugh said he is concerned about state interference in local control of the school system. He said the state should be providing the necessary funds to improve schools but leave decisions on educational curricula to local school boards.

McDowell, a registered nurse who works as a community health nurse with the Cape Girardeau County Health Department, said she is running for the board because she wants to become more involved in the community.

McDowell said it is important that the district try to address the issue of teacher salaries. "We have some wonderful, dedicated, talented people working in this system," she said. "I don't think we should make it tempting for them to leave because we can't afford to pay them."

Hayes said she decided to run for the board when the seventh seat was created. "I'm not running against any of the incumbents. I do believe it would be nice to have another woman serving on the board," she said.

Hayes said serving on the board is the highest form of community service anyone can perform. "It would be my commitment to work with the parents and students to keep every door open for our children and to gear the students for the challenges of the future," she stated.

Francis, 31, is employed as a firefighter by the Jackson Fire Department. One issue that he said concerns him is adequate salaries for teachers.

"I'm very concerned that our teachers have not had a pay increase in several years," said Francis. "In order to retain and attract quality teachers we must make our school district appealing to them so they will not go off to school districts in larger cities," he explained.

Francis said as a board member his foremost goal would be to improve education in the classroom and through extracurricular activities. "I would like to see the math and science programs within the schools strengthened. Those are the core classes in which students must perform well to gain admittance to colleges and universities; it's what makes them marketable," he said.

Engelhart, 68, is a semi-retired dairy farmer. All four of his grown children were educated in the Jackson school system.

Engelhart served 20 years as a member of the Cape Girardeau County Planning Commission and was a volunteer research consultant for the Jackson Board of Education in its boundary dispute with the Oak Ridge School District.

Like other candidates, Engelhart said he opposes any state-level interference in the operation and control of the Jackson School District.

He said: "I'm interested in local control. I don't want our policies being set by people in Jefferson City who know nothing about our area, our schools. As a member of the school board, any decisions I would make would be based on common sense and what is best for the Jackson area and the children who live in and attend Jackson district schools."