Crowded South Range school board race offers varying views

By ROBERT CONNELLY

rconnelly@vindy.com

NORTH LIMA

Ten candidates with a range of perspectives are vying for votes for three South Range Board of Education seats this November.

There are two four-year terms – both Jeff Good and Ed Pierson are not seeking a second term – and a two-year unexpired term on the ballot. That term is for the remainder of Bruce Zinz’s seat, from which he resigned earlier this year, and Amy White was appointed to serve for this calendar year. White applied to run for a full four-year term.

White was appointed March 16 to fill the school board vacancy created by Zinz’s resignation in February, and resident Richard Ferenchak – running for a school board seat – filed an injunction against South Range after that appointment.

The Vindicator’s attorney, David Marburger, argued that the school board violated state open-meetings law when it appointed White. The school board has said it did nothing wrong.

A name plate for White was already on the board meeting table before the board voted to approve her as its fifth member.

White later resigned, the board went through another appointment process and again selected White.

Ferenchak wants the school board to pay his legal fees and to be fined for violating the law. A mediation and pretrial hearing in that case is set for March 1, 2016, with a trial to follow May 3.

Seven of the 10 candidates running for the three spots on the South Range school board returned survey forms to The Vindicator, answering questions on why they are running and what they believe the issues are for residents of Beaver and Green townships.

Some candidates are from the private sector, others are teachers and one, Taylor Christian, was a 2014 valedictorian graduate of South Range High School.

Candidates who did not fill out candidate forms are Terri A. Lally, John E. Kuhns and Robert Dance. Melissa Humphries, who filed to run for the school board by the August deadline, withdrew from the November election Sept. 21.

Candidates who filed for the unexpired term, to end Dec. 31, 2017, are: Kuhns, Lally, Brian Foutty, a Trumbull Career and Technical Center teacher; Ferenchak, frequent speaker at public meetings and pharmacist; and John Spiese, electrician and engineer.

Candidates that filed for the two four-year terms are: White, United school teacher and incumbent; Christian, current Youngstown State University student; Dance; Dr. Michael “Mick” Engle, medical doctor; and Corey Yoakam, teacher in Boardman schools.

VARYING VIEWS

Completed survey forms show different perspectives and views from seven of the 10 candidates. Yoakam, Christian, Ferenchak and Engle focus on the school district budget and talk about some of the issues that have surrounded the district that had three straight operating levies rejected by voters.

Christian, Ferenchak and Engle want the school district to do a performance audit – which was also a request of ACT Now for South Range schools before the May operating levy defeat. ACT stood for Accountability, Clarity and Transparency, and Christian was the spokesman for that group. Ferenchak also was a member.

Engle and Foutty touted previous work experiences as a way to help the South Range schools’ budget.

“I negotiated six collective bargaining agreements that were fiscally responsible and fostered growth, and helped successfully pass two school levies,” Foutty wrote in his survey form.

Engle said he serves as president of the board for the surgical center that he co-owns and that board “adapted to large cuts in reimbursements from the insurance industry to remain a profitable company. We did this through innovative programs and forward thinking.”

Yoakam said he has “been outraged by the recent negativity surrounding the school ... because there are too many adults getting attention when the focus of the school should be the kids. There has been a misuse of funds, and more levies are out of the question.”

Ferenchak is adamant about no more taxes on South Range residents.

White, the only incumbent running, said in her survey that she understands the qualities required of a school board member because she currently is on that board. “As a teacher, I have been immersed in the public education environment my entire career so I understand how schools operate, how schools are funded and how students learn,” White wrote.

Yoakam and Foutty also touted experience as teachers themselves as reasons they can contribute to the school district as board members.