School board candidates answer questions

The Hot Springs County Republican Party hosted a School Board Candidates forum at the fair building on Sept. 30. In the general election, there are four seats open for the Hot Springs County School District #1 Board of Trustees. 

This is part two of the forum coverage. Part one ran in the Oct. 10 IR.

There are two incumbents currently running for reelection, they are Clay VanAntwerp and Nichole Weyer. Marshall Keller is also running and is currently an appointed trustee who filled the seat from Will Ferrell who recently resigned. Trustee Joe Matinez is not running for reelection. 

The other new candidates running for the school board are Justin Budd, Beth Lewis, Jessica Lippincott, Ben Postma, and Jean Skelton. Candidate Jessica Lippincott was unable to attend the forum due to medical reasons. Incumbent Nichole Weyer did not attend but provided a statement. 

The forum was moderated by Mary Ann Jager.

Lightning round questions were asked of the candidates with directions to give a yes or no, agree, disagree answer. Candidates were advised there could be a chance to expand their answers at the end of the round if there was time.

Question: Do you affirm there are inherent differences in abilities that exist between biological males and biological females? And do you commit to protecting female sports?

Clay VanAntwerp:

Absolutely. I have two beautiful granddaughters. And, you know, by the Constitution and the right of a pursuit of happiness. But, when your pursuit of happiness infringes on the pursuit of somebody else, then that’s where it ends. So I absolutely support girls competing against girls.

Jean Skelton:

Yes

Justin Budd:

Ditto. Yes.

Marshall Keller:

Yes

Beth Lewis:

100%

Ben Postma:

Without a question there is a difference.

Question: Are you willing to stand alone on a vote?

All said Yes.

Question: Do you commit to ensuring the safety, privacy and protection of all students in all areas of school facilities and activities, for example, single sex bathrooms and locker rooms?

All said Yes.

Question: Do you agree or disagree that the overall environment within a school can have positive or negative lasting impacts on students’ mental emotional well-being?

All agree.

Question: Do you believe preferential treatment exists within the schools for students who are related to staff, board members, well known community families, our star athletes, or those who possess a higher level of academic activity?

Clay Vantwerp:

Absolutely not. 

Jean Skleton:

Yes, that does happen.

Justin Budd:

Yes. It happens.

Marshall Keller:

Yes, I do believe that happens. 

Beth Lewis:

I can’t say with 100% certainty because I don’t know for sure, but I would guess it’s likely.

Ben Postma:

I think we’re all human. It’s human nature to benefit oneself. So I would say there is probably some of that in there.

Audience question: What would you say to parents who desperately desire advocates in protecting their children from growing critical race theory and transgender ideologies? 

Ben Postma:

So, critical race theory is teaching us that everybody’s inherently racist, so I disagree with that. And you are taught that it’s built into the culture. As far as transgender people. It’s a mental illness that needs to be treated. If you want to be a dude, be gay. Hey, you do that. If you want to be a girl  and be gay, hey you do that. But there’s no need to mutilate yourself. I mean, we’re not allowed to join the army until you’re 18. You are not allowed to have tobacco until you’re 21. Why on earth are you going to allow kids to mutilate themselves before that age? Once you move out and you establish yourself, you’re an independent person, do your thing. But otherwise, I think there’s still guidance that young people need. 

Clay VanAntwerp:

Absolutely. There’s no place for it. And you can see, what our curriculum is. We get them straight from the Wyoming Department of Education. So our standards that we teach come straight from that. And those standards, I mean, a lot of that comes straight from the legislature as well. So that’s where, if any of this stuff was going to come, that’s where it would come from. But we don’t. I wouldn’t stand for it. I mean, there’s that, we’re going to stick to reading, writing and arithmetic and, there’s just no place for it in the school as far as I’m concerned.

Jean Skelton:

As far as keeping critical race theory out of the curriculum, I think we need to train our teachers on how to spot it. We’re not teaching first graders critical race theory, but I do think it is creeping into some of the resources that our teachers are using. And I think, yes, they are focused on the standards, but they are using resources that are out there on YouTube and other different places that we need to make sure our teachers are able to spot what critical race theory is and how it’s being implemented, without them even knowing.

Justin Budd:

I would tell parents, that is something that, well, like Jean mentioned, we have to stick to the standards, right? But not only train the teachers to recognize those things. We also have to provide oversight as well, because there are some in education that will use their latitude given to them to teach those kinds of things. So, there also has to be some oversight in addition to the training. 

Marshall Keller:

I believe that the school board, as we are now, actually goes through quite a bit as far as the curriculum that’s put through, and it’s reviewed. And from what I can tell, that isn’t being pushed. And as it was stated, whatever we are being taught is coming down from the federal government and the state. With that said, I also believe that the only things that should be taught in school are the basics. We shouldn’t be teaching any of our political, religious or otherwise beliefs in the school. Not everybody’s the same and what you teach your kids at home, that is your business. The school has no business teaching any of our kids anything outside of the curriculum that’s pushed down by the school.

Beth Lewis:

I agree with pretty much everybody up here. And I think you said it best, Marshall about [how] really the school needs to stick to education. Not anything beyond that scope. 

Question from the audience for Justin Budd: Why did you resign from the district and then run for the board?

Justin Budd:

Well, I did work for the district for a year. About midway through my tenure in the district, I had a difference of opinion over policy with the administration. There are some other things that happened as well, that I didn’t feel like they were handled appropriately. And so I tendered my resignation. I’m fortunate, because I have a military retirement pension. And so it’s not my livelihood to work for the district. It’s easy to stand up for what you believe when there’s not an economic aspect, right? And so, I think there are a number of people in the district who would speak up more often or, share their true opinion or heartfelt opinion if it wasn’t their livelihood that was at risk. So, I did resign from the district, for those reasons. And, you know, kind of the word that was the narrative that was pushed to the public was that I came up with a better opportunity. I wasn’t looking for another opportunity. I came to Thermopolis as an opportunity to return home. And I thought I would spend my last working years as an employee of the district. It didn’t turn out that way. After I resigned, another opportunity did present itself. I went back to work for the defense POW MIA accounting agency. I retired from that agency in 2018 at the end of my active duty career. It’s my privilege to do that work again, but I wasn’t looking for any other opportunities at the time.

Question from the audience for Jean Skelton: If you homeschooled your kids, why are you running for the board?

Jean Skelton: 

I believe, first and foremost, that parents are the first and best educators for their children. I had that opportunity. It was a sacrifice for our family. But it was a beautiful sacrifice. And I love homeschooling. I love doing it. So I feel like I bring a very diverse set of skills to board because I have done that homeschooling. And then I also have the accounting background. So, I know what it’s like to be a parent all day with my children and I still love them, and they still love me most of the time. And I think I realize people think it’s kind of odd, but it’s okay. 

Question from the audience for all new candidates, not any current board members: At the last board meeting, it was brought up that the superintendent had violated school policy by his employment with Solution Tree. Instead of disciplining the superintendent, the policy was changed to accommodate this violation. As a future board member, how will you address this miscarriage of policy?

Jean Skleton:

I think implementing policy across the district judiciously and fairly is really important. And there are reasons that the school board put those policies in place, and it’s to prevent that from happening. So it was a disappointment that they just went ahead and changed his contract to say that it was okay. But as a board member, if I was a board member, I think in order to set the standard for implementation of policy consistently throughout the entire district, it’s really important that we start at the top of that. 

Justin Budd:

If it’s a violation of policy, then yeah, obviously it should be dealt with appropriately. I think there’s another aspect here though, that we need to discuss as well. And there’s a perceived conflict of interest. I personally believe that is a conflict of interest. If it is in fact true that this Solution Tree company has a contract with the district and the superintendent also, consults for Solution Tree. To me, that’s a conflict of interest. And, I think it’s important to consider that public perception and how to overcome that perception. And I’m not saying that I have, the answer to overcoming that perception or a resolution for that, but I think we at least have to consider it. And, give it some discussion.

Beth Lewis:

So in my mind, policies are written and they are expected to be followed, and we don’t change policies just to fit certain circumstances. Now, I’m not familiar with exactly the details of everything, but in my mind, if the policy is broken, I mean, what would happen if it was a support staff member and with a similar policy? I think that the rules should be applied across the board.

Ben Postma:

So there’s another catch phrase I dislike is: perception is reality. And unfortunately, a lot of times we remind ourselves it is exactly that. Apparently from Justin it was also the same. There are other aspects of this that we probably don’t see and that needs to also be addressed. Much like everybody else knows, that also needs to be implemented fairly across the board. And that’s where we stand. Also back to what I said earlier. If there’s rumors, you either confirm them or kill them. And that’s really where we’re at with the perception thing. As far as what it is and what it isn’t. So, absolutely. If we have policies we need to follow those policies. And if he’s within the limits of those policies then we need to change that, or even make sure that everybody knows that we’re good to go, or if we did change the policy, then, we obviously look at that and how we implement that.

The moderator allowed the current school board members to respond.

Marshall Keller:

I just want to answer this one real quick, because I think that was a misstatement on the question. The policy wasn’t changed, the contract was. In fact, his policy had been set a while back and and unfortunately, rightly or wrongly, the contract had to be changed to match the policy. Otherwise that’s going to be a problem. The fact is, if people want the policy changed, please vote for the people that you think are going to change it. Thank you. 

Clay VanAntwerp:

We had two attorneys look at that, and there was no violation. There was nothing wrong with what was done. We didn’t really have to do anything, but we chose to do it just simply to be transparent and to clean it up. But as Marshall can attest, there was no violation. And we had two attorneys look at it. And so I just want to make it very clear that there was no violation. And Solution Tree, they pick the very best of the best. When Dustin helps other districts, I can guarantee you he’s learning stuff with that district that he brings back to our district. And it’s one of the reasons that we’re doing so effectively well. And the board is who approves the contracts of Solution Tree, not Dustin. We have that primary responsibility and we do that, not the superintendent. So I just want to make that super clear. As a board, we set those goals, and then we bring in the resources to meet those goals. And I will stand behind our results. You look at the results. What we’re doing is working extremely well for our kids. And if you want your kids to do well, then these are the things that we’re going to do. And that’s about all I can say. 

Question from the audience for Clay VanAntwerp: Why isn’t there any auto mechanics class?

Clay VanAntwerp: 

That’s a great question. And I can tell you why. Number one is you cannot find a teacher. In Rock Springs, Wyo., George Jackson just retired. What? 3 or 4 years ago. Good friend of Jim Cramer’s and the Rock Springs Auto Mechanic program is done. They brought substitutes in to teach that. You can imagine what would happen in my mechanic shop. The subs come in and don’t know what’s going on. The tools are disappearing, things like that. So number one, you cannot find a teacher. And why? Because an auto mechanic can come out of a mechanic school and make $80,000 to $100,000 a year and not have to teach. And like I said, if you think teaching is easy, take a semester, do it, and find out. It’s not that easy, it’s unbelievably difficult. The other part of that is student numbers. I’m sorry, but, it is an incredibly expensive program. And when you have so many kids that can participate in it, then you’re looking at and I challenge you to look at the end of that program, how many students were actually doing it and the cost that it was there to do it. Believe me, I support that program. When I taught seven years, I was an industrial arts teacher. I taught machining principles and technology in robotics. So believe me, I know how great those programs are. But, you know, it’s just not there. Can’t find a teacher, and it’s pretty expensive. 

Question from the audience for incumbent board members: In light of the school board’s recent refusal to allow Moms for Liberty to give every eighth grader a copy of the US Constitution donated by them 917 society I believe the incumbent board members should answer the following question. Have any of the board members looked at the Constitution booklets donated by the 917 society or researched the 917 society through their QR code? If so, why was this considered propaganda as stated on Chairman Skelton’s Facebook page?

Clay VanAntwerp:

I’d be glad to answer that question. And those books, those pocket constitutions, they came with a QR code. That QR code directed students to what they believe the Constitution is, their explanation and education and things like that. That’s all great. So we’re all happy with that, right? But what about the next group that comes in with a QR code that takes students to a transgender site or, those types of things. If we let one person in then we have to let all groups in. And if it comes to teaching to have a vision in school. I’m all for it. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John bring it on. But if we  let that in now we’ve got to let all this other stuff in. So that’s why I stand with Marshall when he said, let’s stick to the basics. Let’s do reading, writing and arithmetic. And QR codes? Nope, I’m not standing for it. Not any QR code. I’m not going to do my QR code. I’m not going to do anybody else’s QR code either.

Marshall Keller:

Clay had it right. There was the QR code on it. And, the fact is…What’s the committee called again?... Yeah, the District Guiding Coalition had reviewed the information, went to the QR code, and they’re the ones who decided that we shouldn’t have it. As it stands, we are getting booklets for the students, Constitution booklets that they’re going to have without a QR code. And, I think that should be what happens. When I went to law school, we were all given one too. It just didn’t go to anything. But it was the Constitution. And that’s what should be given.  Not to anything that directs the student to any site that tells them what’s right or wrong, give an oath to anything or whatever. It should just be the straight up information as it stands.

Audience question: Just a real quick response by a raise of hands. Who of you will have kids in the school district?

All raised their hands except Jean Skelton.

Audience question: How many of your kids are homeschooled or have been show hands?

Jean Skelton raised her hand.

Audience question: Is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board?

Justin Budd:

Yes. The first thing that motivates me to serve on the school board is the success of our students. While I feel the district has done a good job of preparing students academically for higher education, I have to wonder about other students that aren’t interested in pursuing higher education. I think we’re leaving behind some of the students that have other aspirations.

Marshall Keller:

What motivates me, as I said before, is service to my community. The other thing is, as I stated before, seeing the kids that come through my door or just down the street, they go to Barb Rice’s program that need help. And, that’s why I’m doing this.

Beth Lewis:

The obvious answer is to make sure all of the kids have a great education. But also, I really feel like figuring out a way that we can retain the best teachers. When we have teachers leaving at such a high rate, and they’re still living in town, but commuting to other places to teach. I see that as a problem, and I would like to figure out a way to keep them in town.

Ben Postma:

My motivation is going to be my kids, and also ensuring that most, the best education we can do, and that encompasses taking care of our staff, taking care of our students. And just the whole picture is really my motivation. To make sure we are turning out the best we can for our future, because our kids are our tomorrow, so we need to shape them and ensure their success.

Clay VanAntwerp:

I agree with you too. My greatest concern is student achievement. Having our kids prepared for their future. When they leave here, they are able to do whatever they want to do. That’s my main goal. I look forward to working with Beth on ways to retain teachers. We’ve compared our turnover rate to other entities in town. We’re right in line, if not under them. And so we have that information. If anybody wants to look at it we’d be more than happy to show you that. Student achievement and, you know, preparing for the future, that’s my goal. 

Jean Skelton:

My goal is a long looking goal towards our community. These students that are graduating are coming through our school system. They’re going to be the kids that are part of the Rotary Club, that are part of the workforce that we’re hiring. They are the future of Thermopolis, and we want them to come back to Thermopolis and be good citizens here in Thermopolis. We had a 78% graduation rate. We need to think of those other ten kids that didn’t graduate. We need to prepare them for this community to be good citizens in our community. And like I said then, the respect issue is a big deal. And if we can help them become better citizens, then our community is a better place.

Moderator question: Where, if any, would you propose budget cuts? List only. No explanations.

Jean Skleton:

I think we need a budget arrangement, not a budget cut.

Clay VanAntwerp:

Where does our money come from? Yeah, part of it comes from the federal government and all the rest of it comes from the state. Our property taxes pay for the school. But in Hot Springs County, we are blessed to have a place called Hamilton Dome that pays a huge part of our taxes. Oil and gas is what pays the big share of our taxes in Hot Springs County. So, in fact, the last time I knew 80% of our budget comes from oil and gas, 20% comes from property tax and things like that. So, that’s why when, oil goes up and down, those things every year because we are really tied to it. But that’s where the money comes from. And as far as where we cut, I wouldn’t, I’m sorry. I know the budget. I know what we’re doing. And, we’re doing a great job, and I would welcome anybody to look at the budget, you make some recommendations. I’m all ears. But I’m telling you, it costs to do what we’re doing.

Ben Postma:

Property taxes are one part of it and then we’re also tied to the energy industry and that’s where our taxes come from. And then you have the federal contribution as well. With that, as far as budget cuts, I’m not privy on all the details of the budget at this point in time. So I could not talk smartly to that. However, what I would do is look at where we’re at, and if we need cuts, or if we need to sustain. That’s definitely something to look at. And that’s where the management piece of the budget comes into it is always assessing that.

Beth Lewis:

The schools are funded by state and federal funds. Property taxes are included in that. And then Like Ben said, I’m not privy to all of the budgetary details right now. But I’m sure there’s places that you can cut and put more in other places. I’m sure a rearrangement is something that could be looked at.

Marshall Keller:

As it was stated earlier, the school budget comes mainly from or what’s called the ad valorem taxes, which include your taxes on oil and gas and property taxes. And then you get some from state grants or some from the federal. And regarding cuts, I don’t see how we can cut and retain. Our turnover rate, it’s pretty high compared to the rest of the state. And if we want to keep teachers here, we’re not going to be able to cut. Maybe rearrange and look at the budget and reprioritize. But I don’t see any way to make budget cuts.

Justin Budd:

As far as funding goes, that’s correct. Revenue comes from federal sources, state sources and those all end up in the School Foundation Program block grant that is administered by the state and then distributed to the districts in the state, 48 districts in the state. As far as the budget cuts go, I again, like many others have said, I don’t know if I would necessarily cut, but I would examine, how we could maybe reallocate things. Another thing I think that we should consider is also looking at salaries. While I would not recommend cutting salaries in general, I think we need to assess the salaries, district employees because human resources and personnel costs are the greatest expense, right? And, we need to ensure that salary levels are commensurate with the level of responsibility that someone has.

Part three of this forum will appear in the Oct. 24 issue of the Thermopolis Independent Record.