Sparta school board election draws near

Voters faced with little information on which to base a decision, By Joseph Harkins SPARTA - So much information. So little time. Some will use past performance as a barometer. Others will rely on lofty expectations. More, perhaps, will just cross their fingers and make a wish. Either way, Sparta residents will have to make a decision in two weeks to fill three vacant spots on the local Board of Education when school elections are held throughout the state. Incumbents Paul Johnson, Armen Koochigian, and Maureen Sharpe will be challenged by Mike Schill and Keith Smith and former school board member Gunter Frauentreis for three-year terms on the nine-member panel. Residents will also get a chance to approve or reject the proposed $51 million district school budget at polling venues throughout the township, 2-9 p.m., Tuesday, April 18. While much fanfare has surrounded a controversial $71.5 million plan to “reconstruct” the existing high school off Route 517, voters have found limited resources to examine the school board candidates. Much of the bits and pieces of information about the candidates has been reduced to public discussion at open school board meetings or disseminated in the corridors afterward by a handful of residents in attendance. The inconspicuous forum is quite contrary to last year’s election, when biographical sketches and profiles were posted on the school district’s Web site and a debate was hosted by the township League of Women Voters to disseminate each candidate’s positions. This year, even the local Internet forum has been uncharacteristically quiet. What is known is that each school board candidate has made it clear that something has to be done about the overcrowded classrooms at the high school and the increasing student population across the district. The degree and manner of that support is where the candidates deviate. Michael Schill is back again for another shot at a board seat, after finishing fourth in last year’s election. He said the school board hasn’t addressed the enrollment crisis openly and properly since he was defeated. “I figured this is what the town wants so I sat back and waited for the new high school to be built,” he said. The father of two Sparta High School graduates and another son in the middle school is still waiting. It wasn’t until January that the school board approved the high school reconstruction project after a long and exhaustive search. For almost three years, the school board struggled to find land to build a new school before settling on expansion and renovation of the existing facility, which has stood on Mountain Road for more than 50 years. In September, township residents will go to the voting booth to either approve or reject the plan. “I’m a little bit leery about throwing money on a partial plan,” said Schill. “It’s a shame because something needs to be done. I’m not against the building plan (referendum), but I’d like to address a plan that takes into consideration both the high school and the elementary school problem.” Sparta voters ousted three incumbents last year -- including Frauentreis -- in large part due to dissatisfaction with the school board’s efforts to find a location to build the new high school. The school board has been evolving since, often voting along what have become lines of traditional disagreement. Paul Johnson, who is running for reelection to the school board, said there will be more of the same unless the lines of divide change. “The board of education has not served this community well,” he said. “Put simply - the board, elected by the public, is responsible for setting the goals and direction for the district and for ensuring that the administrators hired by the board understand and work toward achieving these goals. Measurement of accomplishment of the administration is also a responsibility of the board. Unfortunately, this has not been happening. The unwillingness of the board leadership to take on and resolve tough issues has created a vacuum. Inappropriately, this relationship has been filled by the administration.” Smith, a seven-year township resident, has witnessed some of the school board’s antics during many of the meetings he has attended in the past year. The regulatory affairs advisor said his strong organizational and communication skills will help him maintain independence from peer pressures. The other candidates, Koochigian and Sharpe, have been the board’s trump cards, often distancing or distinguishing themselves silently from public debate at meetings. But the divisiveness among school board members has festered in closed session. And what goes on in private, where board members have spent a great deal of the past year, is any voter’s guess or a choice that residents may or not want to make.