Three School board candidates elected to Perrysburg School Board

Rajshekhar Basu Sarkar
eSomethin staff

School financing and issues of transparency have been a topic that has been up for debate among the Perrysburg population. The newly elected board candidates spoke with eSomethin shortly after their election victories.

SUE LARIMER

Perrysburg Schools Incumbent School Board Representative Sue Larimer said that she wants to address misunderstandings about school finance through something called Finance 101. She said “I think it will look a little bit different depending on the time of the year. Larimer said “School financing is the most complicated, incomprehensible thing.” She said that “even accountants don’t understand school financing.”

Larimer said that schools need a “school treasurer who is also a good speaker, teacher and a lawyer to be able to understand all the legislation that can soften the blow of all the complexities of all the school finance.”

Larimer thinks that “Finance 101 is a way to reach the community at very basic levels.”

Larimer advocated for a student advisor position in the school board. She said “what I see across the state, in the student advisory board, that works out through the high school, bringing through that innovation, this advisory group could work with the superintendent but could also report to the board, and explain to the board.”

CASEY HAYWOOD

Casey Haywood, an incoming school board member, advocates for casual Q&A sessions to address concerns of transparency. Haywood said she hopes “that they would be able to schedule a time at a local place” like the library, a pub, etc.

Haywood lamented that this idea of a casual Q&A sessions would be “challenging because of three board members’ busy schedules.”

Haywood has said that there should be a “rotation of board members.”

She said that these sessions will happen “once a month for questions that weren’t answered at meetings.”

Haywood said “My hope is to be in schools/classrooms multiple times a month.”

She said “we are working together, on the same page, and to service the students.”

Haywood says she cares about “getting the best experience for students.”

She also says “It’s important to meet people where they are.”

Haywood said that the school needs “quick talks/debriefs.”

She also thinks that the school board should do more in “reaching out to high school students.” It is important that “students know what’s going on with situations that affect them,” she said.

Haywood said that “We’re all working towards the same goal.”

She also wants the “school’s website and levy information to be easily understandable and accessible to people that can know how hard it is to run a school on limited funds.”

Haywood also said “There will never be a time where everyone agrees with the level of transparency.”

She also thinks that the school board should be “posting on instagram and other modern social media platforms more frequently”.

Haywood said to her critics, “Thank you for voting – period. My heart is in it for the students”.

She said “we should be creating good citizens who want to come back to this community.”

DENISE PHILLIPS

Denise Phillips, another candidate who won the school board election, said her friends and family, people with different experiences, motivated her to run for school board.

She also said “I think if our tax funds are going to fund a school, that school should have to follow the same rules and regulations that our public schools have to follow”.

Phillips, a business owner, does not believe that “schools should be run like a business.”

She believes that schools “should be a community resource.”

In her view, “education should be a service that is provided to the community.”

Regarding access to books, Phillips, who owns Gathering Volumes bookstore, said that “parents should have the ability to say that they don’t want their student to check out certain books but not anyone else’s child or student.”

These three candidates have different opinions and often contrasting views from each other.

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