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'approach With Caution,' Says, Candidate Warner

'approach With Caution,' Says, Candidate Warner image
Parent Issue
Day
23
Month
May
Year
1972
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

Cecil W. Warner, presently serving as president of t h e Ann Arbor Board of Education has announced his candidacy for another term of office in the June 12 school election. He issued the following statement; "The Ann Arbor School System is a good school system ... a progressive school system ... a thoughtful and meaningful school system. On the one hand, our graduates have attained distinction in practically every major Uni-' versity and college in t h i s country; but we also are implementing an expanded careers education program for our students who do not choose to continue formal education. Our musical groups are outstanding ...our athletic teams excel in almost every sport. Our students . . . wheréver théy appear ... in whate v e r capacity . . . perform with distinction and do honor to themselves, their parents, their school, and their city. We have fine children and a fine school system. All of this is too often downplayed or even ignored when we come to election time. "I have been pleased to serve as a Trustee of the Ann Arbor School Board; I have been honored to be its president. "I am running for re-election as a Trustee because I feel the days ahead will be especially difficult. We must have a school board that is cognizant of t h e developing needs of our community and capable of achieving those needs within the ever more restrictive financial framework closing around us. I ask each and everyone of you to approach the coming school board election with all the caution it demands. Please, do not be taken in by pie-in-the-sky promises of everything to every interest. Our problems are not simple . . . indeed, in my first term I developed an appreciation of how complex they are. "Our citizens are already taxed beyond the average . . . and most accept this willingly. But, we must recognize, at least as far as the property tax is concerned, we are at the end of the road. And herein lies our biggest, most overwhelming problem . . . It is financial! When I was first elected to the school board we received $176 per student from the state. This year the figure is $126 and next year it is expected to decrease to $70-107. Over a two-year period aid decreased more than one million dollars. "While property reassessments have brought an additional $3.8 million, virtually every cent has been required to meet increased salaries for our teachers and staff, textbooks for our students, insurance increases and higher utility rates. "Our financial problems are very real. The present board has met these needs but there are no final solutions. Our problems will become even greater . . . the Legislature is dedicated to an educational concept that will have the effect of lowering . . . and lowering to a considerable degree ... the level we have achieved and maintained in Ann Arbor. The weapon will be dollars ... we must have a school board suited and equipped for the coming battle. I submit my past record of accomplishment p r o v e s us ready. i "Since joining the board in 1969, I have applied my professional business training as I promised in my campaign. j Myv urging, helped us hire a businessman as a controller; instituted, for the first time, an accounting system that enables us to know where andl how we spend our money; set goals and objectives for the educational, operational and capital programs- again for the first time; required longrange planning and prompted construction of a Consolidated warehousing and maintenance facility which put those operations under one roof. "These are the types of ' lems or approaches ... all financially oriented . . . that are now started . . . that are so important . . . and on which hang so much of our being able to continue to offer a quality program in Ann Arbor. "We cannot overlook other areas which have been problems to us in the past. Certainly discipline and safety must head this list. I have gone to the schools ... I have seen these problems. We have made progress. "I will continue to work to make your schols safe." Warner, 43, is the senior engineering administrator at Bendix Aerospace Systems División. ! He is a native of Ann Arbor.. A gradúate of Michigan State University, he has been associated with the aerospace industry for 16 years. The candidate was president, of the Scarlett Junior High Parent-Teacher Organization. He has served as president and v i c e president of the Wines School PTO, and was a member of the Ann A r b o;ï Parent - Teacher Legislatiye Committee for two years. Warner also has served as an adviser in the Junior Achievement Program, as past president of the Huron Valley Toastmasters Club and as area governor of Toastmasters International. He has been active in the Boy Scouts and Cub I Scouts at Wines School andl has coached little league base-I ball in Ann Arbor for ninel years. I He 1 i v e s with his wife, I Nancy, and their six childrenl at 2416 Nixon RcL___J