A 2½-hour panel interview, with 21 questions submitted by the public, faced four candidates for the Valparaiso School Board seat vacant following Jon Costas’ departure from the board when he began his fifth term in January as Valparaiso mayor.
City attorney Patrick Lyp conducted the public interviews in the city hall council chambers on May 6 in the first round of interviews with two Republicans and two Democrats, each vying for the opportunity to be the newest appointed school board member selected later this month.
Ashley Kruse and Ron Donahue mentioned their previous unsuccessful attempts for school board appointments. Brett Miller is new to the process, unlike Kurt Minko, a school board member now serving as board president.
The interviews were streamed with just a few interested residents in attendance, all scattered alongside the note-taking city council members as the latter prepare for the next round of interviews, which will include their questions and input before selection.
Valparaiso City Council Member Emilie Hunt, D-At-large, who serves as the council liaison for Valparaiso schools, spent the past two months reminding the public they had much of April to submit interview questions via the city hall website. The selected public-generated questions were sent to the four applicants by May 3 to prepare and research their answers. All provided questions were the same for each applicant.
Among the questions posed to candidates were: “Do you think teachers should be allowed to carry firearms?”; “What do you believe is the biggest challenge facing students today?”; “Do you have any experience in education?”; and “What role do you think a school board member should play when a parent is frustrated or upset with an issue regarding their child’s teacher or school?”
Miller said he moved to Valparaiso 18 years ago and is a parent of students in the Valparaiso Community Schools.
“From what I hear from my own kids is that two of the important topics facing Valparaiso students every day include bullying and systemic racism, and those are just two of the reasons I’m here as a school board applicant,” Miller said in his opening remarks.
Minko said he attended 13 various schools before reaching the eighth grade, and said it was through his classroom experiences that he found inspiration and stability, as well as valuing mentorships he embraced playing high school football.
“Being on the school board is my way of giving back,” Minko said.
Kruse said her 2024 school board application marks her third time as a nominee for an open seat on the board.
“I’ve grown personally and professionally during each of my school board nominations and throughout all of it, I’ve remained active with the school both serving on the P.T.O. and also contributing to the Valparaiso Community Schools strategic focus group,” Kruse said.
Donahue said next year he and his wife will have children enrolled in not only the Valparaiso Schools’ elementary school, but also middle school and high school.
“It’s the reason we chose to move here, for these schools, but there’s still room for improvements,” Donahue said.
All of the candidates agreed they do not think teachers should be allowed to carry firearms in the classroom, with all four applicants praising both the Valparaiso Police Department and the school resource officers.
The public submitted question “Do you agree with the Board’s handling of last winter’s incident at the High School, where a Pride flag was removed from a classroom and how would deal with situations like this in the future?” brought varied responses.
“I was on the board during that time, and sometimes as leaders, you have to make the least bad decision,” Minko said.
“We used the process and asked ‘Is it legal?’; ‘Is it curricular?’; ‘Is it disruptive?’ and the looked at it situationally and I think we made the right decision.”
In reviewing the case with the Pride flag removal, Donahue said he doesn’t believe schools “support the needs of all students.”
“I don’t know that anything was learned from what happened or change came about,” Donahue said. “I didn’t hear about any workshops later, but instead, things just moved on. Voices need to be heard.”
Kruse said while she agrees with the removal of the flag, so also remains mindful that it set a precedent.
“I think this issue deserves further conversation and a revisit.”
Miller said he attended the board meeting that resulted in the removal of the flag and spoke in frustration on behalf of his own two children, one in middle school and one in high school.
“This is why I want to be part of this school board, as a parent who asks himself, if you aren’t going to step up and do this, then who is? That’s why I’m here tonight,” Miller said.
By May 17, a selection of the potential questions from city council members will be sent to applicants in preparation for the 6 p.m. May 20 interviews conducted by the city council to help them select a final candidate. The panel and interview portion during the second round of interviews will be limited to 90 minutes, with guidelines still to be determined for applicants’ allowed response time.
After a 10-minute recess following the second round of interviews, council members will reconvene to appoint a school board member with each council member voting for one name for consideration on a ballot.
After Lyp counts the ballots, if there is a majority vote for one candidate, the name of the candidate is nominated and seconded, with discussion following about the merits of the candidate. Following discussion, a vote will be taken and the selection made.
If there is no majority vote for the candidate, according to the guiding procedure, a council member can then make a motion to consider two candidates. After discussion, a motion to select one candidate will be made and seconded with additional discussion followed by a final vote
Philip Potempa is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
