One incumbent, three newcomers vie for school board

McCOOK, Neb. – McCook Public School patrons will be asked to choose three board members from a slate of four individuals, one incumbent and three newcomers, in the November election. All four candidates spoke at a recent KICX Candidate Forum held Wednesday at Sehnert’s Bakery and Bieroc Café. The entire forum can be viewed on KICX’s Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKwYuNxkflU

Ronda Graff is running for school board because she regularly implores people to get involved in the community through her weekly columns in the Gazette, which she writes on behalf of McCook Community Foundation Fund. “I felt it was finally time for me to step up and run for school board.”

Her other motivation was her late mother-in-law, Delores Graff, who served for many years on the McCook School Board of Education. “I just remember watching in awe of what she was doing. She was making an impact,” Ronda said. She said Delores always came to school board meetings prepared, and Ronda intends to follow that example if elected.

She believes that a measurement of a successful student would be giving him or her the ability to think for themselves. “I don’t think that always reflects on the tests,” Graff said. She also believes that we should stop focusing on just sending kids to four-year colleges. “We need to celebrate the kids that are getting out there and being productive members of our community. One of the biggest disservices we do is tell a kid that he needs to go to college and kudos to those that graduate and have a job where they can pay down that debt. But it’s those [students] that we say, ‘you have to go to school’, and they come out with debt that they’re paying off the rest of their lives.”

She would like to see more partnerships between Southwest Nebraska businesses and the school system which would expose students to possible careers long before they make college choices.

Charlie McPherson said he is running for school board because of his kids and the kids in the community. “That’s a very important role for us as current leaders - to help form and shape our up-and-coming leaders for the future,” McPherson said.

McPherson is the executive director of McCook Economic Development Corporation and said he brings a different perspective to the position because he has a child on the spectrum. “We’ve been exposed and worked with the educators and administrators in the school systems on Individual Educational Plans (IEPs) and some of the things that go along with that,” McPherson commented.

He would also like to see students exposed to various career opportunities through clubs, internships, and expansion of the Bison Days program. He believes that McCook is appealing to potential new teachers but thinks there are more opportunities to explore when recruiting and retaining teachers.

Scott Barger introduced his three sons, Kyson, 16, MHS Sophomore; Kreighton, 14, 8th grader at MJHS; and Kroy, 10, a 4th grader at Central Elementary. He told the gathering that he was running for office to keep McCook Schools strong, not only for his sons but for all the kids in the district and for future generations. He said another priority is teacher recruiting and retention. Finally, Barger believes in a traditional approach to education and says he will bring a conservative ideology and perspective to the board.

Barger was asked about his thoughts on the competitiveness of McCook teachers’ pay and the difficulty in hiring new teachers. He said the board must support initiatives put in place by administrators to recruit teachers. He also believes keeping track of MHS graduates and encouraging them to come back would be successful. At the same time, he believes that supporting existing teachers is important. “We need to support them with the resources that they need so that they can grow in their jobs and feel like they want to be a part of something special.”

He said balancing the need to provide a quality education with the need to respond to taxpayer burden was a “slippery slope”. He went on to say, “It’s my personal belief that a strong school system is an integral part of a strong community.” He said a strong school system helps employers recruit staff.

Mike Langan says that one of his strengths is experience. “You get experience from making mistakes, so I’m getting quite a bit of experience,” Langan joked. He is the lone incumbent who is seeking re-election to the school board.

He has three boys who have all graduated from McCook High School and Langan has high praise for the education his boys received in McCook Public Schools. All three of his boys have achieved high academics in college, something Langan attributes to their public education through McCook Schools and his wife, Angie.

The Langans took on three foster children a few years ago and through that experience, Langan has witnessed how the school works with students facing certain challenges. “I got to work with the principals, the superintendents, the resource workers, and to see how dedicated they are from top to bottom at this school, that just was extremely impressive, and it just far exceeded anything that I can even imagine,” Langan said.

He said McCook Public Schools had many strengths, including fiscal responsibility, high-quality education, and dedicated administration, teachers, and coaches. He said COVID was one of the “nastiest” things that could happen to teachers, but they handled it “like champions, in my opinion, they [McCook Public School teachers] did the best in the state of Nebraska”.

He said it is a battle getting high-quality teachers with restrictions on finances and budgets and competing with metro area schools. But he believes McCook has many advantages as a place to live, citing easy airport access and a favorable climate. He suggested recruiting retired teachers to serve as ambassadors to “sell McCook”.

Current school board members Dennis Berry and Loretta Hauxwell are not seeking re-election. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.