Based on a state law passed last year, Melnick would not have originally been able to run for re-election once her term expired this year. The so-called “nepotism clause” in HB251 states that those running for a local school board cannot have a family member in an administrative position in the system. Her son Jan Melnick is the principal at Northside Middle School.
However, a bill signed this year, SB84, states the provision applies to board members elected on or after July 1, 2009, and the family member must have started working in the administrative position on or after Jan. 1, 2010.
Meanwhile, the race for the Post 6 at-large seat is a crowded one, with six candidates vying for the spot. Incumbent Griff Clements, 63, is being challenged by Carol Ervin, 61; Jim Maddox, 50; Johnny Thomas, 39; Leon Tompkins, 70; and Todd Whitley, 46.
Post 4 incumbent Fred Wilson, 65, is running unopposed for his seat.
Loiacono, a civil mediator and child advocate, is emphasizing a responsibility to students, parents and taxpayers in her bid for the Post 2 Board of Education seat.
Her experience working with at-risk children and families, and working to bring agreement among different groups, has helped her better understand the public school system, she said.
If elected to the board, Loiacono said she would focus on boosting scores on tests such as the CRCT and the Georgia High School Graduation Test.
Parents and teachers must work together to make that happen, Loiacono said.
“We need to make the system work better for kids and increase academic achievement,” she said.
Loiacano believes voters in the community feel like the current board is inaccessible, and plans to tackle that issue if elected.
“There’s a lack of responsiveness,” she said. “They feel they don’t have a voice. They’re feeling disenfranchised.”
Loiacono also feels the board has a responsibility to be more forthcoming with school spending, SPLOST receipts and other financial information.
“It’s important that we as a board are accountable,” she said.
After a long career in Houston County as a teacher and administrator, followed by a few years as a consultant for Middle Georgia RESA, Melnick’s bid for the school board seat in 2006 “seemed like a natural transition,” she said.
“Because of my extensive work experience and background, I have a full appreciation of the school system of where we were, where we are now and where we need to be in the future,” Melnick said.
During her first term in office, Melnick said she had to learn the art of compromise quickly in working with the other board members.
“You’re one member in a team of seven. You as an individual have no authority,” she said. “The key to getting anything done effectively is working with the other board members.”
During the last year, the school board grappled with several difficult issues, she said, such as school rezoning, pay cuts and staff reduction in force.
“We don’t always agree, but we have the capacity to come to a resolution,” she said. “We hope it’s in the best interest of the students and whole school system.”
In her bid for a second term, Melnick said she will not focus on the political opposition, but rather, on issues such as student achievement and the economy.
“I’m running for the board, not against it, Melnick said.
The school system’s money is one of the issues of most concern to voters, according to Post 6 incumbent Clements, from making sure it is properly spent, to making sure student achievement doesn’t suffer in difficult economic times.
Clements also opposes tax increases and in the future, hopes to avoid the level of staff layoffs undertaken in the spring.
“We’re continuing to grow. We need a diverse board to look at the monetary spending that comes with growth,” said Clements, citing his background in construction, engineering and business.
Notably, Clements voted against two controversial decisions by the board in the past year.
First he voted against a motion that took away a $1,000 local supplement for employees, saying the cuts should have been based on a salary percentage instead.
In January, Clements was the sole board member of seven that did not approve the current school zoning plan. While the public was presented with two zoning options before the vote, the board ultimately approved a third option that was unveiled the day of the vote.
Clements said he opposed that plan without opportunity for public input.
“We had some goals and guidelines to follow, and we didn’t follow that,” he said.
Despite some disagreements among board members, Clements said the group currently in office is among the most cooperative he has worked with since he joined the board nearly a decade ago.
“It makes it easier and a lot more pleasant,” he said.
The way business owner Ervin sees it, Houston County can become the “educational center of the South.”
A former owner of a day care, Ervin said the schools should partner with day care centers and institutions of higher learning so that students can have the best educational resources available to them at an early age.
“If you spend at the beginning of the educational process, rather than at the middle or end, you save so much money,” she said. “They’ll be more prepared for college, work and the military.”
Ervin said she would also try to convince legislators to allocate more funds to purchase educational materials.
Ervin believes the charter school movement is gaining ground in Georgia because it is filling a void in some public school districts. To prevent the same from happening in Houston County, school leaders should continue to better prepare their students.
“We can learn from the charter schools and see what we can do to prevent them in the area,” she said.
Ultimately, education is critical for economic development, according to Ervin.
“Without an educated workforce, there are no new businesses or job creation,” she said.
Maddox, a business owner, was no stranger to school involvement prior to his candidacy.
Maddox helped organize a gathering of parents of students zoned for Northside and Warner Robins high schools in January who opposed the school system’s alternate zoning proposal.
Many of those parents opposed a second plan proposed by Houston County during the school rezoning process on the grounds that it would disrupt their racial and socioeconomic diversity.
Maddox said he urged parents to maintain a positive attitude throughout the process. Maddox himself said he e-mailed the board members the night before the vote and asked them to make the best decision for the students of Houston County as a whole.
“In the end, we still have to work together,” he said. “We still have to educate kids and work. It’s not going to work if we can’t work together.”
Maddox, who is a part of Northside’s school council, has also served stints on the school councils of Quail Run Elementary and Thomson Middle.
Maddox said his understanding of budgets and other financial matters would be a benefit to the board, especially on the heels of funding cuts. Other topics of concern include achieving Adequate Yearly Progress, technology and facilities, he said.
“I hope the way I’ve handled things in the past is a precursor to how I’ll do things in the future,” he said.
Media consultant Thomas said if elected, he will represent a segment of the educational equation not now on the school board: parents of current students.
Thomas currently serves as the chairman of the Eagle Springs Elementary school council and is a member of the Northside High school council, where his two sons are students.
“It’s very important for parents to be involved,” he said.
“Parents of school children have a vested interest in the school system.”
Among his priorities are seeing all of the district’s schools achieve Adequate Yearly Progress, making sure teachers have adequate resources and maintaining student achievement in the difficult economy.
Thomas said he decided to run after the school zoning process earlier this year.
“I don’t want to be someone that sits behind a desk, I want to be activley involved,” he said.
He, like other parents who attended the public meetings on the issue last fall, felt the first one, moderated by school attorney Jeffrey Grube, did not give parents a chance to voice their concerns. Thomas suggested a neutral party — 21st Century Partnership’s Mary Therese Tebbe — be the next moderator. The board listened, and the next zoning meeting went more smoothly, Thomas said.
“I want to be a problem solver,” he said. “If a problem is brought before the board, I want to bring solutions.”
Tompkins has been attending Houston County school board meetings for about a year in preparation for November’s election.
“I want to know a lot going in,” he said.
Tompkins, in fact, has dedicated much of the 62 years he has lived in the area to the Houston County School system.
A 1958 Warner Robins High School graduate, he spent his 30-year teaching career at Tabor Junior High and Houston County High. Since retiring in 1993, he has been a member of the Houston County Retired Educators Association.
“Education’s been my life,” he said.
Based on that experience, Tompkins said he will bring together students, parents, teachers and system administrators. Tompkins said he would also like to see more business and community involvement, and boost parental engagement.
“To have a great school system, we must have the whole community working together,” he said.
Tompkins would also like to make sure teachers have adequate class planning time, keep class sizes reasonable and not raise taxes.
While Tompkins said he will dedicate much of his time to the school board if elected.
“Anyone who thinks I’m old, come work out with me,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of energy.”
Whitley believes the board should change to better serve students and staff, in light of their recent decisions.
Among those decisions was a vote by the board last year to cut a $1,000 local supplement to employees. Whitley believe the board should have implemented pay cuts based on a salary percentage “so the impact was felt equally.” Whitley also raised concern about the way the staff reduction in force cuts were handled this spring.
“I think we can do a better job of taking care of teachers, which in turn take of students,” he said.
Whitley said other cost-cutting options should have been considered, like in the case of Ben Hill County. The Ben Hill school district adopted a 164-day school calendar by adding 30 minutes to the school day and starting the academic year after Labor Day, Whitley said.
“I’m after making the school system better,” he said. “We can’t make the school system better by adding furlough days and laying off teachers.”
Whitley feels the board as a whole has seemed aloof to the concerns of its constituents, notably during the school zoning process.
Whitley was a member of the Houston County Neighbors Association, one of the more vocal groups during the zoning process. Eventually, the group sought the services of an Atlanta lawyer to uphold a decades-old court order that emphasizes neighborhood-based schools over racial balance.
“They wanted to force the rezoning on the community and get it through like it was without much input,” Whitley said.
To contact writer Andrea Castillo, call 256-9751.
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