By:LARRY MAIER
In the past few weeks, the four candidates competing for two two-year terms on the Baldwin school board have expressed similar commitments to public education and the welfare of the district's students.
Where Mary Clark, Linda Degen, Robert Paskoff and incumbent James Scannell differ slightly is in what each feels is the main priority for the school board to address. And their differences were highlighted at the April 30 Baldwin Council of PTA's Candidates Forum, particularly in their answers to this question from the audience: If elected, what is the first change you would like to see enacted by the school board?
Paskoff's response was not surprising to those who have regularly attended school board meetings in the past year. He said he would like the school board to establish a political-action committee, an organized group of concerned residents empowered to lobby local, state and federal legislators for the needs of the Baldwin district. It would be a way to help bring in more money at virtually no cost to the district, Paskoff said.
Degen's response echoed remarks made in her opening statement, when she emphasized curbing school violence, improving student discipline and promoting academic ethics as keys to advancing the district. Degen said she would like the board to adopt a character education program in grades K through 12. Such a program would help improve discipline problems and test scores, she said.
Scannell, the lone current board member among the candidates, said there was no burning issue not currently being addressed by the board. He did, however, say he would like the board to do two things: adopt a new vigor in the search for state aid and educational funding and more actively encourage the community to make funding for Baldwin schools a more prominent issue in government elections.
Clark, who praised the work and merits of the senior high school, said she felt there was still much to be done in the lower grades, particularly in the middle school. She said that finding ways to improve eighth-grade test scores, particularly math scores, is paramount.
The school-board election will be Tuesday, May 15, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., at Baldwin Senior High School.
