Duane Renken Becomes School Board Candidate

Duane A. Renken, an employé of Bendix Aerospace Systems División, announced his candidacy today in the June 10 school board election. He is the second person to become a candidate for one of three seats opening on the board this year as the terms of Vice President Robert E. Doerr and Trustees Francés Felbeck and Harold J. Lockett expire. Attorney Richard M. Wood is the jonly other announced candidate. "It is necessary to assemble a Board of Education which has integrity and on which the voters of this community can trust," Renken said in his candidacy statement. "We as voters are being asked for the largest operating budget yet assembled as well as for another bonding issue in the near future. Such expenditures require board members with strong business and technical backgrounds to make policy decisions which will provide an excellent education basis for our children and wise money management for the taxpayer. "Each major expenditure must be reviewed, analyzed and evaluated. A questioning attitude, I believe, is necessary. We cannot wait for budget problems to arise, we must anticípate them. We must have a board which manages by sight, not by crisis. "During the last three or four years the Board of Education has become the center of increasing criticism. Some of it is deserved; however, this criticism has degenerated the confidence of citizens to the point that even operating m i 1 1 a g e budgets are being questioned as to potential passage. "It is now time for a change. We must put new faces on the board and again créate the trust and involvement of the voter. The voter must be fully informed about the monetary issues which are placed before hira. I propose to keep the voter better informed, and then makel certain that íunds which are voted are utilized for the purposes for which they were requested. "Furthermore, it is necessary for each of us to evalúate the present state of affairs in our school system. Y o u r concern and my concern must include the following: Student discipline; wise money management; student moral and ethical values; training of the non-college bound student; new facility requirements; school usage by non-school groups and school board-voter Communications." Renken, a 1956 gradúate of the I Iowa State University School of I Engineering, received gradúate! training in public administration I f rom the University. He served I as a commissioned officer in the I Air Force. Since joining Bendix in 1958,1 he has served as president of I the Ambassadors Club of Annl Arbor Chamber of Commerce;! president, secretary and eider of I St. Luk e's Lutheran Church;! president of St. Luke's Couples'l Club; President of the Phi Gam-I ma Delta Alumni Board, and! participant in the YMCA Indianl Guides Program. He lives with his wife, Kath-I ryn, and three children at 21541 S. Seventh.