CANFIELD Candidates voice solutions BOE problems

Communication between the school board and residents is the biggest problem in the district, most candidates say.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- David Moore wants to know what the Canfield school board is doing behind closed doors.
"Let's hear what's going on in executive session," he said at a recent public forum attended by eight candidates for the school board. Moore said that in March, the current board spent more than 10 hours in executive session.
Most of the other candidates agreed with Moore and said the board needs to do a better job communicating with Canfield residents. Seven of the candidates identified communication as the main issue.
The candidates running are Moore, Bruce E. Brocker, Lynne Bellish, Robert C. McClusky, John E. Davis, Nicholas Maiorana, Sam Pitzulo, and Mark J. Squicquero, the lone incumbent. The three candidates who earn the most votes in the general election will win a four-year term on the board.
Naming the issue: When each candidate was asked to identify the most important issue facing the district, only Squicquero did not answer with "communication." Instead, Squicquero said that due to the state government's recent decisions on school funding, the board will need to focus on planning for the district's financial future.
Squicquero added that the current board holds executive sessions at the request of district employees. The Ohio Revised Code states that school board members can hold executive sessions to discuss personnel issues.
Some of the other candidates had ideas for improving communication among the board, parents, students and voters. Moore and Bellish each said they want the board to hold more public forums to discuss district issues. Pitzulo added that he feels district officials shouldn't use most of the forums for presentations, while Brocker said he was disappointed that a forum in September was sparsely attended.
Brocker said he believes the board should encourage more Canfield residents to attend the forums.
Moore and Davis added that they feel the district should have a better Internet site containing more information about the board. Squicquero also said he liked the Internet site proposal.
McClusky noted that he feels the board can reduce negative publicity coming out of the district by improving communication.
Busing problem: Each of the candidates also was asked for his or her opinion on busing, a topic which has caused controversy in the district. The board changed the district's busing schedule this year in response to requests from a group of middle school parents.
McClusky said the board should have done more to listen to parents before changing the schedule. Maiorana added that the board may have to buy more buses to solve the schedule problems in the district. Meanwhile, Davis said that if he's elected, he would work to a fair and equitable solution to the schedule problems.
Moore and Pitzulo each noted that students at Youngstown State University offered to help the board solve the busing problem. Instead, the board decided to buy computer software to organize the busing schedule.
Dante Zambrini, the district's director of administrative services, said the software used in Canfield had a better reputation than the software that would have been used by the university. Squicquero added the board listened to parents before creating the new bus schedule.
"Just because a group of parents come to the board with an issue doesn't mean they're going to get what they need or get what they want," he said.
Brocker said he couldn't get information about the busing problems from the current board. Bellish said she didn't know enough about the problems to comment.
hill@vindy.com