CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With about two weeks to go before the May 8 election, the Kanawha County Board of Education candidates are discussing with 580-WCHS their top priorities, if elected.
Three seats are open on the school board this upcoming election – Ryan White’s seat, Becky Jordan’s seat and Pete Thaw’s seat.
There are nine candidates in this year’s race.
White and Jordan are each running for re-election. Thaw’s seat became vacant following his Dec. 2017 death.
Jim Crawford and Ric Cavender are not up for re-election.
The May 8 election is non-partisan and results are final. There is no General Election for Kanawha County school board members.
White would get another four-year term, if elected. He said people should vote for him because he’s a well-known candidate.
“People have seen me on the board. They know what I stand for. They know I don’t have special interests behind me. I do what’s right for the school system,” White said.
White said his top priority is to make sure HVAC systems are in proper order in schools. Capital High School had to close school for several days due to mold problems last year.
“We have several heating and cooling systems throughout the county that need replaced because they’re out of their expected lifetime. We need to figure out a way to replace those so that the students can have a comfortable place to learn,” he said.
Increasing the amount of trade school programs throughout the county is another goal, White said. There are currently two technical schools in the county — the Carver Vocational Center in Charleston and the Ben Franklin Career Center in Dunbar.
“We have waiting lists for many programs at those schools, so we need to figure out a way to expand that,” he said.
The next three members of the Kanawha school board will be tasked with making decisions for the two new schools to be rebuilt following the June 2016 flood. Herbert Hoover High School and Clendenin Elementary will be constructed in the coming years.
White said he thinks Hoover has a great opportunity to build on a trade school component when the new school is built.
“If we can get the state and other entities like the School Building Authority to give us some funding to build that trade school component, I think that would be a great way to expand our programs and provide trade schools for people of the Hoover area,” he said.
Monty Warner, another school board candidate, said he’s seen first hand that the Elk River community needs better schools. Warner currently serves as the president and CEO of the YMCA of the Kanawha Valley.
“I’ve been very involved with in the Elk River area ever since the flood occurred. The YMCA has strongly supported that area. I think those people need to be taken care of. They need to have the best schools and the best opportunities offered to them,” he said.
Warner, of Charleston, said he believes his experience can benefit decisions made on the school board. Warner is a trained engineer, is a 25-year Army veteran, is a former high school teacher and previous served as a budget analyst in the Pentagon dealing with billions of dollars.
“I have experiences that go far beyond anything that’s currently on the school board. It doesn’t make me better. It makes me different. I have skills and trades that the school board needs so we can train our kids better,” he said.
A strong supporter of vo-tech schools, Warner said students need to be given more career options while still in high school.
“They might very well do better in the vo-tech track and providing some of the labor that we need in our area. The effort by the Legislature this session to make an easy segway from high school to community and technical college is great. I think we need to be preparing kids to be in the workforce as well as going to college,” he said.
White is a parent of two small children. One is a student at Piedmont Elementary School. Warner also has children in Kanawha County Schools.
Other Kanawha BOE candidates include: Becky Jordan, Kevin Chestnut, Joshua McGill, Barbara Redman, Curtis Robinson, Rodney Robinson, Jo Stern and Tracy White.
This story is part of a series of stories with Kanawha County school board candidates.