Gaylord school board candidates discuss issues ahead of Nov. 8 election
GAYLORD — As the Nov. 8 election approaches, the Gaylord Herald Times will publish candidate profiles for contested local and state races.
Featured today are six candidates for the board of education for the Gaylord Community Schools (GCS). They include the following: Rachel Davis, Katie Drzewiecki, Frank McClelland, Kari Visser-Robel, Jeff Wieber and Courtney Willits. The top four vote getters in November will gain a seat on the board.
Drzewiecki and Wieber are incumbents and both did not respond to a Herald Times invitation to participate. Wieber serves as the current president of the board.
All candidates received the same questions. The Herald Times reserved the right to edit responses from the candidates to account for space, grammar and Associated Press style guidelines.
Rachel Davis
Q: In no more than two paragraphs, please describe your background (educational achievements, work history and how long you have lived in the area etc.) and if you are an incumbent state how long you have held the position?
A: I am an attorney that previously practiced real estate law in the Detroit area. I am now a stay at-home mom. My husband and I moved to Gaylord in 2013 to be closer to our aging parents, and because we wanted to raise our child in Northern Michigan. We have a daughter who is a freshman at Gaylord High School. I have always been actively involved in our daughter’s education — assisting in the classroom and the school in any way that I could. It is important to me that our public schools support parental rights, academic excellence and they must be safe. Parents need peace of mind knowing that their school board has done everything possible to keep their children safe at school. If elected, I plan to advocate and implement changes that support these goals. I look forward to serving you and improving the lives of the students and families in Gaylord Community Schools.
Q: What are the biggest challenges facing the Gaylord school district today and what can the district do better?
A: Gaylord Community Schools face several challenges. Parents' “fundamental rights to determine and direct the care, teaching and education of their children,” as stated in the Michigan Revised School Code have been recently challenged and eroded by governmental mandates. The result has led to a lack of trust in our schools. I believe children succeed when their parents are involved and it is important to me to seek parental input and recognize parents as their child’s best advocate.
Advancements in our curriculum to shore up reading, math, science and more contextual teaching of our history is something I would advocate. Character development as part of a civics program is something I would like to see implemented in our schools. We live in a wonderful country and our kids should know that with a solid education and hard work, they can achieve their goals. Finally, the traffic situation on South Maple Street must be fixed. It is unfair to parents and residents that live on South Maple to subject them to an unsafe drop-off and pick-up every day.
Q: Are there any books or subjects that should not be discussed in the classroom?
A: I think one of the problems parents currently have is we do not know what books are in school libraries or are taught in the classroom. Greater transparency as to what books our kids are exposed to is important to me. Parents should know who is selecting the books and the criteria used in the selection process. I would like to see parents involved in this process. The pandemic removed parents from the classrooms. I would like to see that changed. I want parents to know what their children are being taught, what books are in school libraries and ensure that age-appropriate books are selected for their children to read.
Frank McClelland
Q: In no more than two paragraphs, please describe your background (educational achievements, work history and how long you have lived in the area etc.) and if you are an incumbent state how long you have held the position?
A: I have been a Gaylord resident since 2003. My education includes degrees from Michigan State University, Wayne State university and Eastern Michigan University. A short summary of my experience includes serving as an art teacher in the East Detroit Public Schools and special education teacher in the Macomb Intermediate School District. I have over 31 years of total classroom experience. I have been a staff trainer (addressing violent behaviors) and union officer (building representative/contract negotiations), and consultant to the Michigan Department of Education. Recently, I owned and managed a business, and marketed a sports product that I invented.
My last graduate degree earned me membership into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and I was selected as a special education teacher of the year by the Macomb County Parents Advisory Committee.
Q: What are the biggest challenges facing the Gaylord school district today and what can the district do better?
GCS needs to work toward maintaining current successes — which are noteworthy — while protecting students and the educational process from outside forces that are threatening our family values, educational outcomes and community expectations. My hope is that GCS becomes proactive and establishes itself as a district that leads and doesn't follow.
My primary areas of concern are addressing the safety of students and staff, while continuing and improving positive results in academic excellence, critical thinking, life skills and citizenship. I believe all this and more can be achieved by increasing the engagement, teamwork and collaborative input of parents, students and educators.
Q: Are there any books or subjects that should not be discussed in the classroom?
The First Amendment is not a blank check to harm people especially the impressionable, developing minds of young students. Nor is it a license to violate the trust a community gives to its schools. The GCS Technology/Curriculum Committee is tasked in an oversight role to monitor what is taught in the schools and, I hope, what is taught is what the community wants taught. But I believe this may not be enough to counter the forces that openly target our faith in family, trust in schools and our students. These threats manifest in ways never imagined by our founders. This is a nationwide concern and I believe we in Gaylord must be prepared to address it decisively as a community.
To respond to this, I have proposed an oversight process which regularly reviews materials students are exposed to in GCS schools. This would include involving all parties: school officials, teachers, parents and even community leaders. My hope is that this would be a process that functions expeditiously without having an undue burden to all involved.
More:Gaylord board selects Clinton schools chief as next superintendent
Kari Visser-Robel
Q: In no more than two paragraphs, please describe your background (educational achievements, work history and how long you have lived in the area etc.) and if you are an incumbent state how long you have held the position?
A: My husband and I have three students in the Gaylord Community Schools. My oldest is a 2021 graduate attending Michigan State University. My son is currently a senior at Gaylord High School and my youngest daughter is a freshman. I have been in the Gaylord community since 1995 working as an optometrist and opened my private practice on Wisconsin Avenue in 2000. I am a behavioral optometrist that specializes in neurorehabilitation and brain development. My practice focuses on those one-in-four children that have a learning related visual problem that inhibits their reading and comprehension and treating post concussion syndrome as well as traumatic brain injury. I have previous board experience at a small school in Traverse City and feel that critical thinking and teaching students to learn in all environments is vital in creating successful students.
Q: What are the biggest challenges facing the Gaylord school district today and what can the district do better?
A: Academic excellence, parental involvement and school safety are three challenges the Gaylord Community Schools face. Data shows that Gaylord students are performing higher than the rest of the state. Standardized testing ranks GHS in the 88th percentile. However, district wide our students are hovering around 40-50 percent proficiency in math and English/language arts. Our staff and administration are committed to raising the overall proficiency and need the continued support of the school board to accomplish that goal. Encouraging parental involvement would lead to better student behavior and academic performance. The board of education needs to address the concerns of parents, students and staff to promote school unity. There is strength in numbers and I believe that unity will promote safety. Every district member needs to know that everything humanly possible is being done to keep our staff, administration and children safe at school.
Q: Are there any books or subjects that should not be discussed in the classroom?
A: There is a nationwide focus on the type of literature that can be found in school libraries. I believe that there needs to be greater transparency as to what books are available to our students. I feel it is important that the books in our libraries are age and content appropriate for that grade level. Perhaps a selection process could be implemented to assure that content for classroom discussion and reading level of the books are in sync with the student level of each grade.
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Courtney Willits
Q: In no more than two paragraphs, please describe your background (educational achievements, work history and how long you have lived in the area etc.) and if you are an incumbent state how long you have held the position?
A: I moved to Gaylord in 2010 and still reside with my husband Mike and son Branson. I graduated from Spring Arbor University with a bachelor’s degree in family life education. I am currently the office manager at Cutting Edge Computers. I am passionate about our community and I volunteer my time. I currently serve as the vice chair of the Gaylord Area Chamber Board of Directors, a member of our local VFW Auxiliary and I also serve on the Alpenfest Committee.
Q: What are the biggest challenges facing the Gaylord school district today and what can the district do better?
A: One of the challenges facing our school district is making sure our kids achieve their fullest potential. For the schools to be able to do this we need to make sure we can attract, award and retain the best teachers in Michigan. We need to continue to offer the best diversified programs to help close the learning gap and get kids excited about learning. Finally, we need to create a safe and nurturing learning environment free from bullying and with mental health support for our kids.
Q: Are there any books or subjects that should not be discussed in the classroom?
A: Asking about specific books or subjects that shouldn’t be taught is a tough question to answer. From a school board perspective, I recommend ensuring there are policies in place that give clear guidelines on what will be taught in school. Those polices need to reflect federal and state requirements, should also uphold the values of our community and make sure anything taught in school has a positive educational impact.
My goal on the school board is to make sure I have helped set policies in place to make sure that every student walks away from each school year ready for the next level.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord school board candidates discuss issues for Nov. 8 election
