Daily Reporter Staff

Two positions with the Spencer Community Schools Board of Education are up for grabs in the upcoming Sept. 9 election. The seats currently filled by board members Dean Mechler and Leslie "Les" Zobrist are being sought by themselves and one other local resident.

Spencer candidates Todd Korbitz of 123 W. 13th St., Mechler of 711 W. 10th St., and Zobrist of 2508 W. 14th St. are featured today.

While a public testing of the new optical-scan voting equipment will be held at 9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 29, the Clay County Auditor's office will be open until 5 p.m. that same day in order for workers to take and process new voter registrations.

Voters in the Spencer district may cast their ballots from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9 at the Spencer Community Schools administration building, 23 E. Seventh St. Voters may register at the precinct on the day of election, but they will need to prove their residency and eligibility, which may be accomplished with a photo ID and proof of residency.

Absentee ballots returned to the Clay County Auditor's office need to either be postmarked by Sept. 8 or hand delivered to the office by 8 p.m. Sept. 9.

The Clay County Board of Supervisors will canvass election results, as well as absentee votes, at 9 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 12. The final day a written request for a recount of votes may be received in the office of the Clay County Auditor would be Monday, Sept. 15.

(Todd Korbitz) This 35-year-old is employed as a manufacturing engineer at Eaton Corporation. He and his wife, Denise Korbitz, have two children: Tanner, 12, and Riley, 8. [Click to enlarge]

Todd Korbitz

Q. What is your major motivation for running for this position?

A. I am motivated to help prepare our students for success. My motivation for running for a position on the Spencer Community School Board is based on a belief that I can bring a positive attitude to the board and make a positive difference in the future direction of our school district.

I envision a board which, when faced with difficult issues, asks the question: What can we do so that we do not have to face this issue again next year? Currently we continually hear the board ask the question: What are we going to do when we have to revisit this issue again next year? I want to be a member of the board because I want to make it more proactive with issues and situations and less reactive.

I believe our students deserve our best effort to provide the necessary tools to prepare them for future success. The best way to achieve this is through effective teamwork and communication throughout the district.

Q. As you see it, what major issues within the district need immediate attention?

A. We need to get the budget under control. This cycle of cutting one year and adding the next, then cutting again is not a productive cycle. We need to ensure that, with every decision that is made, the students come first. We need to continually engage the public in order to foster a positive atmosphere surrounding the governance of our schools.

With soaring energy prices and ever-tightening budgets, we are living in lean economic times. Under such circumstances, sacrifices need to be made. The last people that should be made to sacrifice are the students. They are the reason the schools exist and I am not in favor of cutting any academic programs. I want to make sure we do our best to provide the most well-rounded educational experience we can, and that includes extracurricular activities. I believe we can do a better job of balancing the budget without affecting academics and extracurricular activities.

Q. If you could change one thing about the Spencer school district, what would it be?

A. Every school district has issues that need to be dealt with and issues will always exist. That being said, there is not anything I would change about our district. I am a product of this school system and am proud of that fact.

We have great teachers and faculty, great volunteers, and of course we have wonderful children.

Q. What do you believe will be the biggest challenge facing the school district in the next three years?

A. The biggest challenge that our school district will be facing in the near future is the issue of student enrollment. Education funding today is dependent upon property taxes and state funding, and state funding is based on student population in our district. We need, as a community, to try to reverse the trend of declining student enrollment in our district in order to become more solvent as a district and to receive the necessary resources from the state.

This is a community-wide issue because it is directly related to economic development and other issues we face as residents of Spencer. I believe this issue is one that is greatly impacted by our school, city, and business leadership. We need to form a cooperative environment among these entities in order to positively impact growth and prosperity and, in the end, attract more families to our fine community.

Q. As the board looks at Spencer facilities within the near future, what do you see as the next priority to be listed as a need?

A. There are many issues we will have to face in the future. Such issues include:

* Our district going from four and five elementary buildings down to three, and the ever-increasing mandate of pre-k education and the necessary room needed to properly house those students.

* The old middle school auditorium and whether we should continue its use or not.

* A 45-year-old high school building that will require more renovations in the future.

* Whether or not to keep the new middle school a seventh and eighth grade facility.

These are all issues that we will have to face as a district. I want these issues to be discussed throughout the community before any decisions are ever made. The only way any of these issues will ever truly be resolved is with strong leadership, good communication, effective community involvement, and an overall cooperative environment.

Q. With the continuing decline in rural school enrollments, the case of ever-tightening budgets and ever-increasing mandates, and with the increased competition among schools for students, how would you suggest your northwest Iowa district face challenges in the future?

A. Communication and teamwork! Quality education is about people. The only way we are going to effectively deal with the issues we face is by working together. Parents, teachers, faculty, administration, and all other residents of our district want nothing less than the best for our students. It is time we give them our best! We all know that Spencer is a great place to live and raise a family, which is the reason many of us who leave after high school find our way back. We need to recognize that fact and do a better job of promoting it in order to attract families to our area.

(Dean Mechler) This 51-year-old is an account manager for WinField Solutions. He and his wife, Rev. Deb Mechler, have two children: Kyle Mechler and his wife, Janessa, of Ames; and Karen Mechler of Ames. [Click to enlarge]

Dean Mechler

Q. What is your major motivation for rerunning for this position?

A. Three years ago I began looking for a new way to serve. I had a great deal of experience on several boards and committees, but those commitments were finished and I felt the need to find a new area in which to serve. Then someone called and asked that I consider running for the school board. I had been trained as a science teacher in college and have always had an interest in education and how it affects much of what goes on in our community and the world. I considered the idea for a couple of weeks and after much reflection, prayer and discussion with several people whom I respect I felt that I was being called to run for a position on the school board. While it is a time-consuming job, and the subtleties of school finance and legal responsibilities take a while to understand, I feel that I have learned a great deal and I want to continue to use what I've learned for the improvement and protection of our school system and our community.

Q. What have you contributed over your past term in office?

A. I was asked to serve as the board liaison to several committees with tasks that included outfitting and landscaping the new middle school, even though no funds had been originally budgeted for those purposes. I took a lead role in explaining these proposals to the rest of the board. As a result of our prioritization of the needs in these areas, we successfully stayed within 3 percent of the entire project budgeted costs.

I also served as the board liaison to the Energy Services Group committee. I had a significant role in prioritizing what projects were going to save the school system the most money and protect the future operations of our facilities. Once again, I was very involved in explaining that prioritization to the rest of the board. The results of our implementing those recommendations will be a savings of at least $115,000 a year (more as energy costs rise) and a greatly decreased risk that we will lose operational functions like heating and electrical systems that may have otherwise broken down and disrupted the educational efforts of our teachers and students.

I was a strong supporter for the vote and implementation of the Instructional Support Levy. I drafted the original newspaper article that helped serve to make the initial case for the need of an ISL to the community. The ISL has already had a tremendous effect on the upgrading of our curriculum. In visits with teachers as well as the teacher presentations that have been made to the board, it is evident that the curriculum upgrades are giving our teachers important new and current tools to help improve student achievement.

In the budget area, I have tried to maintain a "people first" approach. While that can be difficult, the school system hires people to fulfill jobs that are always either directly or indirectly tied to the successful education of our students. Sometimes those ties to the educational process seem remote until you consider them more carefully. The role that teachers play in education is obvious. It becomes more complicated when you consider the declining number of students, the resulting funding loss and the trends and requirements exacted on the system by the various government entities. The same is true for non-certified staff and administration. There are responsibilities that the school system is legally obligated to fulfill as well as responsibilities that the community expects it to fulfill. It takes administrators to fulfill many of those responsibilities as well as to keep everything aligned with our standards and goals. We are thankful for cooks, office staff people, bus drivers, custodians and others who work to maintain an environment that teachers want to teach in and that students can learn in.

Q. As you see it, what major issues within the district need immediate attention?

A. Budget issues will continue to be an issue every year. We are operating with an extremely low cash reserve. After 9/11 the state cut funding growth by approximately 50 percent for a couple of years. If that happened now we would find ourselves in a severe deficit spending situation almost immediately. The aggressive budgeting process that we put ourselves through during the last budgeting cycle included a goal to gradually build our cash reserves to a more comfortable 5 - 8 percent of current spending levels over a period of several years. A parallel budgeting consideration concerns how much spending authority the state gives us. Increasing taxes for operations does not increase our spending authority and can create very difficult budget problems similar to those that several area school systems currently find themselves dealing with. We are very fortunate that we have a very good administrative team that understands the various school funding consequences as well as they do.

The most important issue that we have been and will continue to focus on is student achievement. We have experienced some small incremental gains in literacy over the past four years. In the areas of math and science we have done quite well. We have begun training and putting curricula in place that we anticipate will improve student achievement in all areas. The Spencer Community School system has historically done an excellent job in providing a high quality education for its students. It continues to do so, but with the world and social changes that everyone has experienced, along with the accountability that the "No Child Left Behind" demands, we must do even better. We should always strive to provide the best possible educational outcomes for our students.

Q. If you could change one thing about the Spencer school district, what would it be?

A. I believe that improving communication regarding school financing and educational improvement would help the public understand the constraints that the school system has to work within and why we take the actions we do. Improved communication would also afford the public the knowledge it needs to provide improved input that the board needs to consider when making its decisions. We have an excellent school system with a great teaching staff, dedicated support staff and a very knowledgeable administrative team along with some wonderful facilities. The challenge is to make sure that we always focus these resources together toward providing the "world class" education for our students that we all want to provide them.

Q. What do you believe will be the biggest challenge facing the school district in the next three years?

A. Long-term planning needs to become an area of emphasis. We sometimes find ourselves cleaning up the consequences resulting from decisions made years or even decades ago. This can be expensive and has caused occasional bouts of animosity that distract us from accomplishing our purpose. We can't always prevent these things from happening, but I have observed situations that were brought up but not addressed at the time, and now we are spending time and resources that we may not have had to use to resolve these issues presently.

Q. As the board looks at Spencer facilities within the near future, what do you see as the next priority to be listed as a need?

A. This question points out the need for long-term planning. What does the future look like both locally and regionally? What changes do we foresee in education in the intermediate and long term? It is thought by many that we need an auditorium at the high school that could be used much more effectively than our current auditorium space. Suggestions for additional gym space have been floated about for some time now. These ideas and others may have merit if they fit our educational goals for the future. We need to ask questions and get input from many people in the community with diverse perspectives to help prioritize any future facility needs.

Q. With the continuing decline in rural school enrollments, the case of ever-tightening budgets and ever-increasing mandates, and with the increased competition among schools for students, how would you suggest your northwest Iowa district face challenges in the future?

A. We must continue to provide as diverse an array of academic options as possible. We need to look not only to prepare students for college, but to offer increased academic options that allow students to consider vocational options such as the skilled trades. Of course economic development in our community would help mitigate the funding loss caused by decreasing student enrollment. Improved economic development not only would strengthen our school system but would help address a long list of potential problems that our community either currently suffers from or will experience in the future.

(Leslie "Les" Zobrist) This 52-year-old is employed as a county executive director of the USDA Farm Service Agency. He and his wife, Sheila Zobrist, have two children: Jacob, 19, and David, 15. [Click to enlarge]

"Les" Zobrist

Q: What is your motivation for rerunning for this position?

A. Board members use about 10 full days during normal daytime work hours and either take vacation, rearrange work schedules, or make-up time, and use another two to four nights a month for school board work sessions, meetings, trainings, phone calls, and board activities. Education opened doors and provided opportunities for me that would not have been there otherwise. Seven of the nine boys my age I grew up with either dropped out or barely finished high school. They are either dead, in prison, or have a difficult existence. I appreciate the difference some of my teachers and education made in my life. A lot of volunteers give up their time and resources with different organizations to improve things. Education is something I believe in and school board is my way to say "thank you" and hopefully make a positive difference.

Q: What have you contributed over your past term in office?

A. I believe the school board is putting more emphasis on educating all students and preparing them for the future. The board is trying to be as efficient and business-minded as possible and still stay in touch with the needs of the students, school, and community, because a school's business is people. Many of the classroom resources had not been updated since the 1980s and did not transition from one grade level to the next. The school is now on a structured seven-year rotation for updating resources that still allows flexibility and budget considerations. Measures where the school can recover cost savings have been implemented wherever possible from utilities to transportation. The board also has been active and open in welcoming and seeking input from the public, teachers, students, and various groups as much as possible on important decisions in order to spread ownership of the school system beyond just attendance, working there, or paying taxes.

Q: As you see it, what major issues within the district need immediate attention?

A. The budget, student enrollment, and preparing students for the future to name a few. If the budget gets out of hand, a school system ends up with the problems plaguing many school districts in the state, including some neighboring ones. Spencer has been losing about 35 to 45 students per year, or about 25 percent of its student population in the past 12 years. At approximately $6,000 per student lost, funding and other costs increasing, it is understandable how a school system can end up in the red.

In addition, the school board needs to provide the type of educational system that partners with business and community groups to attract quality businesses and people to Spencer. Providing both academic and industrial AP classes where high school students can get practical experience and earn college credit has been a positive. Some students have been able to start anywhere from a semester to a whole year ahead of their peers from other school districts. From providing background, saving on tuition, or entering the workforce earlier with a marketable skill, this is attractive to many parents deciding where to enroll their kids.

Q: If you could change one thing about the Spencer school district, what would it be?

A. Spencer would be recognized as the top school district in the nation as measured by student, parent, teacher, business, community, and taxpayer satisfaction.

Q: What do you believe will be the biggest challenge facing the school district in the next three years?

A. To continue providing a high-quality education within budget challenges.

Q: As the board looks at Spencer facilities within the near future, what do you see as the next priority to be listed as a need?

A. The school district has bills to pay and it will be several years before any big-ticket items could be realized. The current facilities are in good shape and should meet the school district's needs for several more years. I tend to be value-oriented, however, the way school funding works, if the current Iowa law does not change, there is and will be money for buildings that unfortunately can not be used for curriculum or human resources. We should continue to maintain and improve what we have by determining where the greatest need is. Some areas, such as science, have recently been upgraded. There are other areas, including fine arts and industrial technology where the board is continuing the long-term planning process, since from the time of inception to accomplishment is usually many years. Some local groups and businesses have shown interest in contributing to areas of need that would help stretch the school district's dollar.

Q: With the continuing decline in rural school enrollments, the case of ever-tightening budgets and ever-increasing mandates, and with the increased competition among schools for students, how would you suggest your northwest Iowa district face challenges in the future?

A. Spencer is in good shape compared to the majority of school systems. Spencer has the facilities and a talented faculty that allows the Spencer district to offer AP credit and other classes surrounding or smaller districts can not offer. The Spencer school district needs to continue offering a high-quality education that cannot be matched by surrounding districts. The Spencer school district receives a lot of community support and needs to continue partnering with local businesses and groups such as the Spencer Foundation, Positively Spencer Youth, and Partners In Education that provide the opportunity for a student to enrich their educational experience if they choose to do so.