Meet the District 2 Westfield Washington School Board candidates

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The District 2 seat on the Westfield Washington School Board is up for grabs during the Nov. 8 general election as voters will decide which of the two men vying for the seat will represent them.

Candidate William (Bill) Anderson, who was first elected to the board in November 2018 and serves as vice president, is seeking to retain his seat against challenger Patrick Phillips. Both candidates bring different perspectives about issues facing the district, how they believe the district can tackle those matters and why they believe they are the right individual to represent their district if elected.

Below are responses in alphabetical order based on questionnaires that were sent out to election candidates and have been edited in some cases for space and style.

BillAnderson

William (Bill) Anderson

Age: 54

Education: Indiana University, Bachelor of Science, Management

Occupation: IT Project Manager

City of residence: Westfield

How long have you resided in your school board district: Fourteen years

Immediate family: Wife, Angela, and son, Jackson

Website or best way for voters to learn more about you: westfieldschoolboardcandidates.com/

Previous political experience: Westfield school board, 2019-present

Why do you want to run for school board?

Serving on the school board for the past four years has allowed me to serve the Westfield community and local schools just as I had for many years prior. This current board has worked with (Supt. Paul) Kaiser and his team to strategically position Westfield Schools for the future needs of the kids of Westfield. And I want to continue this work to realize this vision for the future of our schools.

What are your qualifications for this office?

I have received Indiana School Boards Association’s Exemplary Governance Award. And in the past four years we have accomplished many things, including: increased teacher compensation, rainy-day fund went from $0 to over $5,000,000, increased Music Dept. funding (more to come), reduced district tax rate, added 5 SROs and have police substations in every building, five buildings with an “A” rating, four buildings with a “B” rating, partnered with the YMCA on an aquatic center.

What are the top three issues that your campaign will focus on?

Serving all the children in the community and keeping them safe; carry out our long-term vision that will map a course providing the necessary educational opportunities students need to reach their full potential; and implement and maintain our long-term plan that provides the ability to retain and attract the best and the brightest to Westfield Washington Schools long after my school board service has ended.

What do you see as strengths at the district?

Westfield Schools have prepared students for their future lives very well for a lot of years. We have one of the highest College Readiness scores in the state. Also, the backbone of education is the family. Westfield schools are great first and foremost because of the families in our community who are committed to education. I am running to represent them.

What do you see as areas of improvement at the district?

We are currently improving our offerings to students that do not plan to go to college. We have several options for our students right now and we have plans and partnerships in the works to expand and improve these programs. Many other programs have also expanded and improved over the years. I am especially interested in our music department and how it has grown leaps and bounds recently and will continue to do so.

How can public schools help student test scores reach pre-pandemic levels?

Westfield didn’t lose as much ground as other Indiana districts. But this is a priority. The board has hired Dr. John Atha, a 34-year veteran administrator and curriculum professional, to bring the district back to its high standards. Dr. Atha has also hired Dr. Ryan Hoover as our director of curriculum. Dr. Hoover has over 25 years of professional education experience, most recently with Brownsburg, and will be utilizing several methodologies during the school year and over the summer to help kids recover any learning loss.

How do you feel about the district’s efforts to address student safety? What changes, if any, would you like to see made?

I’m extremely impressed with our safety measures. Chris Baldwin is our assistant superintendent for Human Resources and Safety. Chris has about 28 years of professional education experience and has done a tremendous job keeping our kids safe. Chris and his team have a muti-dimensional approach that includes physical safety (SRO’s, locked doors, background checks, etc) and mental health resources. We have a police substation in each building and have recently added 5 SRO’s.

Something you want people to know about you?

I come from a family of educators. My father taught in the Fort Wayne Community School system for 35 years. My mother was a librarian and substitute teacher for FWCS for many years. For the last 20 years of her career, she was the librarian for Bishop Luers High School. My sister taught in FWCS, Hamilton Southeastern Schools, and currently teaches kindergarten in Zionsville. I grew up with teacher families and our world revolved around education.

Phillips Patrick For Skype

Patrick Phillips

Age: 40

Education:

– Westfield High School, 2000

– Indiana University, School of Informatics, Bachelor of Science, 2004

– IUPUI, Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Master of Public Affairs (MPA), 2018

Occupation: Information technology director at Indiana University

City of residence: Westfield

How long have you resided in your school board district: Fourteen years

Immediate family: One son, Benjamin, 11

Website or best way for voters to learn more about you: facebook.com/phillipsforthefield

Previous political experience:

Summit Lakes Homeowners Association

Why do you want to run for school board?

I believe our school board has become too political and it is time to tone down the rhetoric and return the focus to our students and teachers. We must work together to foster an environment where all students can learn, thrive, and grow, and all means all. We should be talking about the serious issues that our students and the district are facing (such as) transportation, aging facilities, classroom sizes, teacher compensation, operating referendum renewal, increasing access to STEM programs for young women and girls and extracurricular activities for all students. Instead, at our board meetings, we are talking about CRT, masks, the CDC, and books in our libraries. That is simply not good enough. I am not satisfied with what I’ve seen from the board in the past couple of years and that is why I am running, because I believe I can affect change in these areas. I will be an advocate for students, teachers, support staff, and others who have been forgotten as we have been bickering about all this other nonsense.

What are your qualifications for this office?

I am both a WWS alum and a parent of a current WWS student. I have 15-plus years of professional leadership experience, currently leading a team of 125 IT professionals providing the highest level of concierge IT support to faculty, staff, and students at IU schools, departments, and units across the state. I have a Master of Public Affairs degree with a specific focus on Public Management, for which my studies included public finance and accounting, organizational leadership, negotiation and dispute resolution and more.

What are the top three issues that your campaign will focus on?

Supporting our students and preparing them for the real world; ensuring our teachers feel heard and have the resources and support they need to be successful both in and out of the classroom; and passing our operating referendum renewal.

What do you see as strengths at the district?

  • Our students. They are the best and brightest amongst their peers, they care about our schools, our community, and each other, and they represent us well on every stage.
  • Our teachers. They work tirelessly to ensure our kids are safe, cared for, and educated, and they often do this to their own personal detriment.
  • Our facilities. Our school buildings (education spaces, theater and performance spaces, vocational spaces, athletic spaces, etc.) are second to none in the state and beyond.
  • Our administrators. They genuinely care about all the above, and are committed to capitalizing on our existing strengths, and planning for our future needs.

What do you see as areas of improvement at the district?

  • Classroom Resources
  • We have teachers who cannot take time off because there are no subs to cover their classrooms.
  • We have classrooms and kids that are under resourced because we don’t have enough Instructional Assistants.
  • We must do better in this area. We must find creative ways to attract non-certified staff to serve the most important roles they do in our schools and support our students and teachers.
  • Transportation
  • Like every other school district around us right now, we are struggling to provide safe and reliable transportation for our students.
  • We must identify creative ways to attract more bus drivers to ensure routes are running on time and students are as safe on the buses as they are in our school buildings.
  • Space and facilities
  • Our enrollment continues to increase at a rapid pace, and we are bursting at the seams in our elementary schools.
  • We likely need additional elementary schools, and we must plan for more expansion at the high school.
  • I do not want to see two high schools in Westfield, so careful planning is needed to ensure we can accommodate the growth responsibly and keep our community united.

How can public schools help student test scores reach pre-pandemic levels?

While I do not believe test scores are the most important measure of student success, I think the best way we can get back on track and recover from the unique challenges the pandemic gave us is to focus on the whole student. This means social and emotional learning is equally as important as reading, writing, and arithmetic.

How do you feel about the district’s efforts to address student safety? What changes, if any, would you like to see made?

Westfield has always felt remarkably safe to me, but the realities of the world today necessitate

additional safety precautions at schools and other places where many people regularly gather. I wish we didn’t have to lock all the doors and create mini compounds at each of our schools, but this is just the way it must be now. I believe the district has done an amazing job in their efforts to address student safety, specifically in partnering with the Westfield Police Department to make our schools WPD substations. We are well positioned in these areas to provide a safe environment for our students, teachers, support staff, and administrators as they conduct the business of teaching and learning.

Something you want people to know about you?

I am a caring and kind person who will fight tirelessly for the people I represent. I care deeply about the future of our schools, our community, and our kids, and I believe I am the right person, at the right time, for the Westfield Washington School Board.


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