School Board Forum (l to r) Justin Fiore, Jim Davis, Chris Krush & Cathy Allen
Lexington Park, MD — League of Women Voters (LWV) of St. Mary’s and the local chapter of the NAACP held a school board forum on Thursday, Oct. 13 at the Lexigton Park Library. The forum highlighted more differences in resumes of the candidates than with their views of the issues at hand. The four candidates at large- candidates are incumbent Cathy Allen, Chris Krush and District 2 candidates Justin Fiore and Jim Davis.
Krush emphasized his 38-year teaching career, including 30 years at Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf. He said the school board needed someone with in-school experience. Allen on the other a hand, emphasized her four term experience on the board and her teaching experience with critical care nurses.yare
Fiore is in his 20’s and Davis is in his 70’s. Fiore, a St. Mary’s College graduate who served on Maryland Senate President Mike Miller’s staff last year emphasized his legislative budget experience. He said his girlfriend is an Instructional Resource Teacher in the school system and his best friends are teachers.
Davis emphasized his extensive business career as a registered professional engineer and his time teaching at the College of Southern Maryland. He is past president of the Rotary Club of Lexington Park.
Although school board races are non-partisan, Fiore has been active in the Democratic Party in the county and Davis has been active with the GOP.
Perhaps the starkest difference from a candidate came with the question regarding what could be done to diversify school system staff. Fiore, Davis and Allen all expressed concern and listed some challenges to accomplishing it, Krush responded, “I am not concerned about their ethnicities; I am concerned about their quality.”
Several questions were asked from the audience about Gov. Hogan’s move to start the school year after Labor Day. Krush and Davis both supported it. Fiore said it didn’t matter as long as 180 days of instruction were included. Allen noted the school board had reached out to parents and teachers to get ideas on what to do.
The candidates were asked about the disparity in success among the three high schools. No one appeared to be in favor of bussing to achieve parity. Allen said all schools needed to have the same resources. “Equal is not always equitable,” she observed.
In response to another question about equal opportunity for all students, Krush responded, “As far as I know all the students are getting equal opportunity.”
Allen said the school system is providing equal opportunity, although some programs are in just one school, such as the International Studies Program at Leonardtown H.S.
Davis on several occasions listed a concern about providing opportunities for minority students. “It is important that disadvantaged children have equal opportunity,” he said. Fiore said “I am not aware of any discriminating programs.”
The candidates were asked their top three reasons for running. They responded:
• Davis The children and the teachers. Davis’ wife is a retired teacher.
• Fiore: Wanted to give back to the community and insure the next generation is greater than the current one.
• Allen: Balancing spending with improving education, opening up new pathways to education and the institutional knowledge she brings to the board.
• Krush: Emphasized his teacher experience.
Another question sought the candidates’ thoughts on how to improve education:
• Fiore: More para educators
• Allen: Improve class sizes by turning around staff cuts of recent years.
• Krush: More teachers and smaller class sizes.
• Davis: Emphasis not only on STEM but also on liberal arts subjects.
TheBayNet.com will also be featuring video interviews with each of the candidates between now and the Tuesday, Nov. 8 general election.
The forum was sponsored by LWV in cooperation with the St. Mary’s County Branch of the NAACP.
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com
