Four prospective Clark-Pleasant school board members spoke at a special work session Wednesday night.
A vacancy on the Clark-Pleasant Community School Corp. Board of Trustees opened last month following the death of ‘legend’ Dave Thompson, who had been serving on the board since 2020. He was Pleasant Township’s representative on the school board and served as its president last year.
Each candidate publically spoke to the board in a 15-minute interview, with the board asking follow-up questions at the end. The board is looking for strong ties to the community, a true heart for the position and someone who is multifaceted, members said.
Whoever is chosen will fill the seat until the end of Thompson’s term on Dec. 31, 2024. Because Thompson was the only candidate to file for his school seat, the successor appointed by the school board also will likely hold the office for the four years following as well, Trena McLaughlin, Johnson County Clerk, previously said. Write-in candidates can also still file for office, she said.
The board will announce which of the candidates will join the board during a special meeting on Tuesday, said Kimberly Crawford, board president.
Beatrice Dunn, a retired teacher and former school board member, applied for the position because she wants to serve the community, she said. She previously served eight years on the board and lost a bid to rejoin the board in 2022.
Dunn would approach her role as a school board member “with the student’s best interest in mind,” she said. She believes the school board members need to be good listeners and know what is going on with legislation both state and locally, she said.
Dunn believes technical education like Central-Nine is an important asset. Students are focused on technology and she would like to steer them away from e-learning and steer them towards “actual learning,” she said. Dunn also worked on recent legislation about critical race theory to make sure students weren’t “indoctrinated” she said.
When asked a question from the board about indoctrinating students, Dunn referenced a book that students had read. Dunn said she doesn’t have a problem with students reading certain books, but wants to make sure books are presented appropriately and options for different materials are available.
Patrick Guilfoy, a school district resident who works as principal of South Creek Elementary in Franklin Township, believes in serving the community and giving back to the places that gave to him, he said. Guilfoy wants to “make Clark-Pleasant the best community they can make it.”
Guilfoy said his greatest asset is his experience in the field of education. He said it is important for children to feel safe to learn and they also learn through experiences. Children should also be taught with “high levels of expectation regardless of perceived academic ability,” he said.
If chosen for the board, he wants to work on communicating things like the construction progress on the high school as clearly as possible. He also wants to hear all voices and perspectives, he said.
Charrie Stambaugh, local photography business owner and campaign director for U.S. Senate candidate Valerie McCray, applied for the position because she wants to serve the community, she said. Stambaugh was a Democratic candidate for Johnson County Council before she stepped down to join McCray’s campaign full-time. She is a mom of six, three of whom are currently in Clark-Pleasant schools, she said.
Stambaugh moved here for the schools because it reminds her of where she grew up in Wabash, Indiana. She wants to continue to see students graduate with college or trade program opportunities like college credit, AP Courses and Central-Nine under their belt, she said. She wants to make sure students are safe emotionally and continue to have mental health resources available to them.
Jacquelyn “Jaylen” Withem, a project analyst for Wessler Engineering, applied for the position because she wants to gain more experience and knowledge, she said. Withem has a nine-year-old in the school system and is two weeks away from finishing her master’s degree in organizational leadership, she said.
Withem moved to Whiteland in 2022 and wants to see how she can be more involved in the community, she said. Withem previously ran unsuccessfully as a Democratic candidate for Whiteland Town Council and was formerly a utility clerk for the town.
School board members have a responsibility to bring honesty, communication and loyalty to the community, she said. As a board member, she would like to be a liaison between parents and the school district, she said. She understands that state legislation guides school policy and education, and wants to help communicate decisions to the community.
