Clark-Pleasant elects 3

<p>Three new people will join the Clark-Pleasant school board after a highly contested race focused on a proposed property tax increase and the change to standards-based grading.</p><p>Isaac Brewer, Laura Cope and Beth Poe are the newly elected school board members who will have a say on issues such as what to do to improve safety and security for students and teachers, how to manage exponential growth, construction of a new elementary school that will open in 2020 and the controversial switch to standards-based grading.</p><p>Eight candidates were on the ballot for three open seats — two in Clark Township and one in Pleasant Township. One candidate, Amanda Trimble, dropped out of the race, but her name still appeared on the ballot.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>The five-member board is responsible for setting the school district’s annual budget, approving teacher contracts, hiring and reviewing the superintendent, setting policies and procedures, as well as making decisions regarding construction projects and any redistricting that may be necessary. They are paid about $2,000 a year.</p><p><p><strong>Brewer, Cope take Clark Township seats</strong></p><p>Isaac Brewer, a local businessman and farmer, and Laura Cope, director of student services at Goodwill Education Initiatives, will represent Clark Township.</p><p>Brewer ran because he’s had five children in the school system and was encouraged by friends to seek a seat.</p><p>As a taxpayer, Brewer was opposed to the referendum which raised property taxes in the district. But as a parent, he was all for it, he said. He trusts that the former school board did what was necessary when deciding on a new elementary school and the switch to standards-based grading, he said.</p><p>Cope, who has one child in the district and one who transferred out, ran because of the switch to standards-based grading, which she adamantly opposes, and a lack of transparency on the school board, she said.</p><p>Cope supports technology upgrades and mental health, but not a publicly funded, private police force, she said. She supports building new facilities as long as the district can pay for it out of its current budget.</p><p><p><strong>Poe snags Pleasant Township seat</strong></p><p>A mom who’s fed up with the way the district is being run has won a seat on the school board.</p><p>Beth Poe, an Eli Lilly employee who has one child in the school district and another who transferred out, also ran because of the switch to standards-based grading, a modernized grading scale that she does not support.</p><p>She supports the construction of a new elementary school because it is being paid for out of the current budget, which is a sign of a fiscally responsible board, she said.</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="Clark-Pleasant School Board, Clark Township" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Top two vote getters elected</p><p>Rodney Benker;26%</p><p><strong>Isaac Brewer;31%</strong></p><p><strong>Laura Cope;43%</strong></p>[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title="Clark-Pleasant School Board, Pleasant Township" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Jerry Adkins;28%</p><p>Judy Olds;8%</p><p><strong>Beth Poe;39%</strong></p><p>Terri Lynn Roberts-Leonard;8%</p><p>Amanda Trimble;17%</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]