School Board Election

Growing divide in elections

The school board campaigns raises concern about their political nature

Malak Samara samarmal000@hsestudents.org

Most residents in the district over the age of 18 either go to the ballots on Nov. 8 or ll out an absentee ballot to vote for the school board member they believe should win. For the past couple of weeks, students, parents and teachers alike have been witnessing the campaigns to help them form an idea of who they see as the best t to make decisions for HSE schools. “ e school board basically decides what policies go on with the school district,” freshman Grace Pedersen said. “When you follow along with all of the candidate’s intentions, it really puts into perspective that it does truly matter who you’re voting for or will be voted in.” School board members oversee the district and make decisions and policies that they feel need to be implemented to make the school environment more e cient. is can include redistricting and the tax referendum. Due to the candidates’ varied views, there has been more involvement from the student body compared to previous years. Both junior Justin Zeisig and Pedersen also attribute the increase in involvement to students growing up and becoming more aware of their community. “[ e school board elections] really got my attention just because of all the diversity [within candidates],” Pedersen said. “Now that I’m older and in high school, I can understand the e ects that these choices [have].” e political nature and factions of this years election caught the attention of most people who will be a ected by the results which is another reason there have been more eyes on it this year. “ e world is being a bit more divided today than it has been in decades,” Pedersen said. “Some candidates have strong [opinions] on what should and shouldn’t be taught at school, as well as certain actions that should and shouldn’t be done. Candidates want the best thing for students, so addressing these things really get put into play.” LarryInFishers blogger Larry Lannan, who has been a journalist for 13 years and has been running his blog for 11 years, also recognizes the endorsements to further push the candidates to engrave politics into their campaigns. “We’ve seen, for example, the Hamilton County Republican Party backing a slate of candidates,” Lannan said. “ e school board elections in Indiana are nonpartisan, so that’s unusual. Not unheard of, but unusual for one of the political parties to get involved in the school board election.” e political nature of a school board election could potentially become a part of the process, formally. e state legislator had proposed to switch from a nonpartisan school board election to a partisan one in January. is would mean candidates would have to identify with a political party, whether it is Democrat, Republican or Independent. e proposal did not pass but can come back in the future. “I still think nonpartisan elections work best for school boards because that has a very special meaning to a local community [in] how the school is run,” Lannan said. “ e school systems are the center of not just education, but a number of other situations like the extracurricular activities.” ere are both bene ts and disadvantages to a partisan or even heavily political nonpartisan debate. Zeisig recognized that due to the nature of the election, it being for the school, it should not be as aggressive as he believes it is playing out to be. On the other hand, he was able to understand why some people would want politics tied into the election. “I think [political school board elections] de nitely brings some bias in the voter’s eyes,” Zeisig said. “[ e voters] could agree with most of their points, but if they’re a Republican and the [candidate identi es] as a Democrat then it could be a big deal breaker for the voter. I feel like a pro might be you’re probably guaranteed to get some

people on your side that agree with that political party that you’re allying with.” Politics in school board elections can intensify interactions between voters who side with certain candidates or their political beliefs. Zeisig noticed that there was an increased amount of ghts on social media platforms between voters who supported di erent candidates endorsed by di erent organizations. Another reason for the divide between candidates and frustrations from the voter’s side is some candidates’ willingness to participate in open-ended discussions. Lannan believes that the reason candidates have turned down open-ended discussions is that they lose control over their campaign and message since any question can be asked, whether they are prepared for it or not. “I think that people that are speaking to the public show that they’re more quali ed to be on the school board,” Zeisig said. “ e school board meetings are very open to the public. ere is a public microphone that people can walk up to and ask questions. at’s one of the biggest parts of being on the school board is being open to the community’s concerns.” Both Zeisig and Pedersen believe that the divide between candidates and voters are enough

reason to put an end to politics within school board elections. Pedersen more speci cally believes that it should stay unbiased due to the fact that the school board candidates should make decisions based on what would be best for the students as a whole and not just based on political ideologies. “I feel we should be talking about politics in school to understand how our country works, but I personally don’t think that it should be forced upon our school for either side,” Zeisig said. “I feel like we should be able to make our own opinions on politics in general without the school board intervening.” Lannan believes that one good way to avoid political propaganda is by visiting each of the candidates’ websites or social media pages to see what their top priorities are. “I think people need to just kind of de ect if they’re going more le or right, and truly just think about the person themselves and what e ects will they have on the school districts,” Pedersen said. “Researching [what] they are going to do and then truly thinking about if that does happen to the school district, will that be good or bad? You just need to have open-minded thinking.” Many people were on the edge

of their seats to see how the results would turn out a er the votes were cast on Nov. 8, due to the vast di erences between this election compared to previous ones. ose endorsed by Fishers One, Juanita Albright, Ben Orr, Dawn Lang and Ti any Pascoe all ended up winning the school board election. Pedersen believes that even if students are ineligible to vote, they should still stay up to date with the elections and do their research. Eventually, they will be able to vote and their understanding of the elections will be detrimental to making an informed decision. Lannan puts extra emphasis on those who are able to vote to register and evaluate the candidates with credible resources. “I do believe if you’re registered, you should vote and it’s important that you take a few moments and evaluate these candidates and which ones align with your views of how the school should be run in the future,” Lannan said. “What’s going on with the school budget? What’s going to happen with redistricting? What’s going to happen in the future as far as who the superintendent will be? All these are issues that are under the school board and you should consider all those situations as you evaluate these school board candidates.”