Daily Freeman-Journal photo by Jane Curtis: Incumbent Webster City school board candidate Dave Stoakes answers a question during the Candidate Forum cohosted Monday by the Daily Freeman-Journal and Kendall Young Library. Seated next to him is his opponent, Ariel Bertran. In the foreground are the cards on which the attendees could write their questions. More than 30 cards with questions were submitted. The event is still viewable on the Daily Freeman-Journal's Facebook page.

There was a sense of anticipation Monday night as people began gathering for the first candidate forum for the Webster City Community School Board. People arrived as early as 5:15 for the 6 p.m. event.

It was a good sign.

They wanted a good seat.

They wanted to get their questions written for the candidates.

All the candidates were there, not sure what they were going to hear, what types of questions would be asked.

And they were all prepared.

The audience heard statistics and numbers that some had researched. During the evening, it was obvious that there are issues that are just beyond the scope of what board members can do.

During the course of the evening, there was quite a bit of agreement. There were also questions and issues that only a sitting board member could answer.

But the engagement, the sincere concern came through.These candidates have the best interest of children at heart. All children.

There were answers that addressed English learners in local classrooms, and the hard efforts to teach subjects through the obvious language barrier.

There were answers that included the students with disabilities, and behaviors in the classroom.

There were answers that addressed bullying.

And there was a lot of support for the teachers and administration.

But there were some hard facts that came out during the amiable forum.

The future of the high school, concerning renovations, air conditioning, or new construction was a question presented by several.

District 1 Candidate Kerry Jacobsen’s answer to this encompassed comments made by several board members. The majority of the board members had done some research on this and other topics prior to the forum:

“We need to look at enrollment and longevity. What size of space are we going to need in the next five, 10, 15 years?” Jacobsen said. “And really look at that to make sure we’re justifying our costs before we go and ask taxpayers for any money. And maybe look at some different options on sourcing instead of doing a bond, because I agree, I don’t know that a bond would pass.”

Safety in the schools was discussed, triggered by the fatal shooting in Perry. The candidates all seemed to look to Scot Ely, who works in law enforcement, and were supportive of his answers.

“There’s a lot of programs out there,” Ely said. “There’s three acronyms that if we’re not utilizing or staying on our lips for the school is ALERT, which is Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, GSSB, which is the Governor’s School Safety Bureau, and then the I Love You Guys, which is their standard response protocol. Those three entities are the national standard,” he said. “We can utilize those a lot better, and I would definitely utilize those in a way … It also teaches civilians, business owners, and schools on how to respond to an active shooter response, and utilizing that, which is the same; common communication and language between law enforcement and the schools is essential.”

Ely continued, “I’m also a big supporter of a school resource officer and finding ways to fund that. I would want the police department or the law enforcement entity to manage that, but we need to get an officer in our school, not just for the safety, but for that relationship and those communications we get from our students to the law enforcement.”

The subject of banning books was also brought to the table and, like several other questions, seemed to direct the responsibility not to the board, but to the experts hired to do the job.

As Ariel Bertan summed it up: “I believe that we need to leave that up to the librarians that, you know, is their job. They know what they’re bringing into those libraries. But I also think that when we talk about banning books, I believe there should be some things left out of school.”

Bertran had concerns about taking some items out of the library.

“I also have a strong belief that if we erase history, history is going to repeat itself. We have to teach our kids history. So I will say some things should not be in a school, but a lot of books, I think we need to have there.”

Throughout the evening, incumbent Dave Stoakes, who is the current board chairman, had the advantage of knowing how the school board works, how it gets its information.

“I get to talk about what actually goes on,” Stoakes said. “Two years ago, the State of Iowa dictated an increase in starting pay for new teachers. That also brought up pay for those teachers who had experience.” For example, if you were a new teacher in year one or two, through 12, and if you were not making the minimum.

“The state backfilled that to us to make up that difference. The next year that was, I believe $47,500. The next year it became $50,000. With the steps that were involved in the old negotiated process, it really changed the way that things looked and how the money was being divided up. Because the thing to remember, we only get X amount of dollars a year. And we’re limited by what the state can give us.”

Several questions addressed concerns that were very specific to a trained professional, including the curriculum. The candidates recognized that there were people hired and trained to address those issues, but had made an effort to learn more about the process.

Amanda Sowle: “I am also not educated to make a curriculum decision. Something kind of cool, though, a bunch of us went to the last school board meeting, and Jama (Hisler) actually did present a lot of their findings, and it did sound like everything was moving in a positive direction, and she went through, she and her team, went through each individual school and what they need to do better, and positives too. They did a great job of like, Hey, these are things we are doing, but there’s been improvements here. And so I think they definitely are, working on the curriculum and how to make it better.”

Several times during the night there were questions that only a sitting board member would be able to address completely. Stoakes responded to the questions about the budget and tax cuts.

“One thing that hasn’t been brought up is the responsibility of the school board,” said Stoakes. “What the school board is charged with is to interview, hire, evaluate, and maintain or fire the superintendent, and also to set board policy. So my belief with this is the person who is most qualified and most understands school finance and what we need to do, is the man that’s sitting in the superintendent’s chair.”

He added: “And I have total faith in Mr. Berninghaus … And we are very fortunate to have him. He knows and understands school finance. He knows and understands what can and can’t be accepted or what is acceptable.”

Some questioners expressed concerns about the athletic programs and facilities. Some of the answers concerned the proposed The Dub sports complex, and other private/public partnerships.

Candidate Jerry Klaver, who has coached baseball, softball and a few other sports, offered his perspective.

“As far as baseball and softball facilities, we’ve got several facilities there,” Klaver said. “There are some updates that maybe needed done with some things. I’ve announced football, basketball, baseball,” he continued, “and our press box is probably one of the poorest that I’ve ever been to … it’s so small that I sit outside and our ADs (athletic directors) have been great about putting a table outside because there’s just not room for broadcasters up there. “So that’s a point, there are some things we need to look at with sports and facilities. But that’s not our top priority as a board.”

There were many more topics addressed during the forum, and more questions that were unable to be answered by the candidates. The forum took the full two hours, and can still be viewed on the Daily Freeman-Journal Facebook page.

The forum was moderated by Messenger Editor Bill Shea, and the event was co-hosted by the Daily Freeman-Journal and Kendall Young Library.