Meet the candidates for Wichita school board, District 5

Anyone who lives within Wichita school district boundaries can vote on this race.

Peter Grant

Age: 60

Occupation: Table Games Dealer

Education: MBA

Political experience: None

Community involvement: Co-President of Congregation Emanu-El Brotherhood and a board member of the Mid-Kansas Jewish Federation

How long lived in district: 30 years

Phone:

E-mail: pgrant1313@gmail.com

Mike Rodee

Age: 61

Occupation: Owner, South Central Sealing

Education: Two years of college

Political experience: Four years, USD 259 School Board

Community involvement: USD 259 School Board BOMA Wichita IREM Wichita Various Fundraisers

How long lived in district: 23 years

Phone: 316-312-5246

E-mail: mrodee2@gmail.com

Why you?

Explain how your experiences and education qualify you to be on the school board.

Peter Grant: I had two children that went through the Wichita Schools and I was not always satisfied with what I saw going on in the schools. I was on the Site Committee at Northwest and I helped out judging debates at East

Mike Rodee: Before the School Board position I was on Site Councils, Booster Clubs at my kids school studied accounting and computers in college and have owned my on business for 11 years doing my own budgets and projections

Top priority

If elected, what would be your top priority?

Peter Grant: My top priority is to increase teacher pay to retain great teachers and the security of the schools.

Mike Rodee: Making sure the at risk and special ed. kids have a voice and programs to continue finding new ways to improve the classroom

Retaining teachers

What should the Wichita school board do to recruit and retain qualified teachers?

Peter Grant: Increase teacher pay and work with the local colleges and universities to help develop new teachers and have programs in place to help existing teachers to grow.

Mike Rodee: Make sure they have support in the classroom and fair wages with good benefits

School calendar

Last year the school board lengthened the school day and cut 15 days from the calendar to cut costs. Do you favor this move? Why or why not?

Peter Grant: No because it is a hardship for many families out there and students get up earlier to go to school and get home later in the day.

Mike Rodee: I would like to see a return to the longer school year

School discipline

Recent data shows an increase in the number of suspensions, detentions and other discipline incidents in Wichita schools, particularly at the elementary level. What could the school board do to address the issue?

Peter Grant: Have discipline policies in place and treat all students equally.

Mike Rodee: To budget money for more support in the classroom to help with Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions and provide more supervision in non-classroom settings

Preparing students

Are Wichita schools adequately preparing students for college or careers? What more could the district do?

Peter Grant: There are programs in place such as the IB program that does a great job of preparing the students for college and programs like that and AP classes should be in place at each Wichita High School. Wichita high schools are wonderful places for learning and each school needs to offer the high level programs for students to succeed such as AP classes or the IB Program.

Mike Rodee: It comes down to money we the schools can provide all the tools needed to provide a high level of education so we as a district can add programs to match the changing world around us but this requires an investment in things that are expensive like robotics and virtual reality

Other priorities

What other priorities do you have and how would you address them?

Peter Grant: Other priorities would be to ensure the state funds schools adequately, small classroom size and make sure the budget is well spent where it needs to be and not wasted.

Mike Rodee: Making sure the students have choices to follow their goals path in life career or college

Transparency

Please state, in detail, your position on open records, open meetings and transparency in government.

Peter Grant: I believe open records, open meetings unless it is a personnel issue or involves a student and I am a big believer in transperency in government. If government is not transparent then I feel they may have something to hide and that is not a good thing.

Mike Rodee: As long as we can protect the privacy of students and staff as required I am for open records open meetings and transparency

This story was originally published October 27, 2017 at 8:48 PM with the headline "Meet the candidates for Wichita school board, District 5."