South Bend Tribune

July 20, 2004

Four seats open for S.B. school board

Sheehan, Blacketor and possibly Hojnacki will not run again; Jones will

By MICHAEL WANBAUGH
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- With four of its seven seats on November's general election ballot, the climate of the South Bend Community School Corp. board of trustees is ripe for change in 2005.

Just how much change will be decided over the next four months as candidates emerge and base campaigns on issues they consider most dire for South Bend schools.

Of the four open seats, two incumbents said they will not run again. A third remains undecided, and a fourth said she will be one of the first to sign up.

"Yeah, I'm running," said Dawn Jones, the incumbent for District 4 (Washington). "I plan on filing the first day."

Candidate filing for the 2004 general school board election will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday and run through noon Aug. 20.

Incumbents Richard Sheehan and Jo Blacketor have both said they will not run again after serving two terms each.

Both Sheehan, District 3 (LaSalle) and Blacketor, at large, were elected to the board in 1996. That was the last time four new trustees joined the board the same year.

The status of the other at-large incumbent, William Hojnacki, remains vague. Hojnacki has also served two terms. He said he hadn't planned to run for a third term, but that could change.

"The situation is this," Hojnacki said. "My plan is not to run for a variety of reasons, one of which is I've already given eight years. But, a number of people are asking me to run again. If the situation changes, I might do that.

"So, my definitive statement is I don't want to, but I might. How's that for political courage?"

The current school board has been intact since the 2000 election, when Jones easily won her first term. The incumbent, Tina Patton, did not run that year.

The last incumbents to fail at a re-election bid were Mark Chambers, District 1 (Adams) and Richard Morrison, District 2 (Riley), in 1998. They were defeated by current board members Sheila Bergeron and Ralph Pieniazkiewicz, respectively.

Current board President Marcia (Jasiewicz) Hummel, District 5 (Clay), was elected to the board in 1994 and is serving her third term.

Blacketor, a vocal opponent of Superintendent Joan Raymond, decided last year she would not seek a third term. She is now a Republican candidate for the District 7 state representative race.

"Whenever I was in Indianapolis for a conference, I rarely ran into a state representative who knew anything about education," Blacketor said. "I feel (schools) are grossly underrepresented at the state level."

Sheehan said he simply decided that eight years on the board is long enough.

"There's a part of me that would like to continue to be a part of certain things, like dealing with the No Child Left Behind legislation," Sheehan said. "But this isn't a system where you can pick and choose what you want."

Sheehan was board president in 2000 when Raymond was hired. He considers it one of the highlights of his two terms.

Because of the at-large seats, this cycle of board elections usually draws a large number of candidates. In 2000, 21 people ran for the two seats. In 1996, it was 20.

This will be the first election since full implementation of Plan Z redistricting and reorganization, which included the closing of LaSalle High School in 2002.

Still, the voting districts for school board seats remain unchanged.

Any registered voter living within the school corporation is allowed to file for the election.

The process begins by filing a petition of nomination at the voter registration office in South Bend. Each candidate must have 10 signatures of registered voters within the school corporation.

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South Bend Tribune

July 20, 2004

Three options proposed to reassign Lincoln school pupils

South Bend board has yet to decide if it will close the school.

By MICHAEL WANBAUGH
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Adding a new twist to an issue already tangled in controversy, Superintendent Joan Raymond introduced two more options for reassignment of Lincoln Primary Center students.

It was a clear statement that Raymond is sticking to her initial recommendation that trustees close the 94-year-old building on the southeast side following next school year.

"Again," she told South Bend Community School Corp. trustees during Monday night's board meeting, "these are just considerations. You may have five or six more."

Facing a projected $3.2 million budget shortfall in 2005, Raymond urged the trustees in April to close Lincoln after the 2004-05 school year.

That recommendation included one reassignment option, now known as Option A.

That option would send Lincoln's current population of about 280 students to Hamilton Primary Center.

It would require an addition to Hamilton, which has an estimated capacity of 357 students. Enrollment last school year was 340.

Option B and Option C were introduced Monday night.

Option B would split the Lincoln district between nearby Studebaker Primary Center and Hamilton.

Option C offered the most drastic alternative. That plan would convert Studebaker into a career center and build a new, $12 million primary center to serve both the Lincoln and Studebaker districts.

Response by board members was mostly positive, even though a decision to close Lincoln has not been made.

Trustee Richard Sheehan reiterated that Lincoln's possible closing is not a done deal and will require a number of public meetings.

"I suggest you have a meeting next Monday, get right on it," Raymond said. "I think you will need more than one, just as we did with the LaSalle closing."

LaSalle High School was closed after the 2001-02 school year. It is now an Intermediate Academy.

Trustee Jo Blacketor, who is opposed to closing Lincoln, blasted Raymond's proposals.

"This is nuts," Blacketor said. "Here it is a year and half past Plan Z and we're pulling things out of our rear."

Raymond pointed out that facility improvements for Lincoln, Monroe and Marquette primary centers were clearly acknowledged in the Plan Z document, but not part of that particular bond issue.

"(Plan Z) said there were not funds available for Lincoln, Monroe and Marquette and that eventually something would have to be done," she said. "Eventually is now."

Staff writer Michael Wanbaugh:

mwanbaugh@sbtinfo.com

(574) 235-6176